Star Fox: Infinity
by OriKitsune
Summary: A re-interpretation of the Star Fox universe, aiming to the likes of "epic space saga" titles in contemporary sci-fi, featuring a crossover with the Endless Universe (Amplitude Studios). James M. (Fox) is a rising star pilot in the Lylat system. Along his team, the "Star Fox" Squadron, he will set out on a new journey after discovering the legacy of the mysterious Endless Empire...
1. Introduction

**Introduction** :

 _Throughout the history of known civilization, 'eternity' has been deemed as unattainable. The thought of living through the eons still to come in the universe, travelling through its uncharted worlds and unraveling its innermost workings… These are thoughts deemed as the longing of dreamers by many._

 _Yet, races and civilizations rise and fall, as their peoples and leaders still strive in this pursuit for power, for wealth, or for knowledge. All three, each on their own way, can bring one closer to making the dream of immortality a concrete reality._

 _Some idealize this as attaining perfection in becoming gods of their own. Others pursue it as a means to building an utopia for all. Regardless, those who pursue it seek to mark themselves in history not only as a legacy for the future, but to empower themselves enough to guide—or conquer—those encountered through the universe._

 _Many are the great deeds and feats of unprecedented heights that the worlds have reached in order to prove themselves worthy of lasting as an eternal culture; each one in their path, seeking to become the ones to pave out the way as the first ones of truly being… endless. Many faltered in their purpose; many fell on their way, failing regardless of their best efforts… Except, perhaps, for the people of the world of Tor._

 _With their immeasurable knowledge, untold feats of technology, and great wealth one could only dream of, the people that once hailed from the world of Tor had become the pinnacle of civilization of their time, once bearing the title of "The Endless". But, despite the feats and the vastness of their civilization, the fires of war within the once-great empire had reduced their people to dust._

 _Their greatest strengths paved way to their downfall, with the bloody carnage of war staining the stars they once lived amidst. Their kind was splintered, and one by one, the few of their survivors eventually perished. Isolated, deprived of all but pain in the tragic fate they were left for._

 _Their people, lost beyond restoration; their civilization, utterly devastated. With the downfall of the Torian, the galaxy was once again deserted, with its stars devoid of a spacefaring people once more._

 _But perhaps not everything of theirs was destroyed, as one thing the Torian accomplished was truly timeless, resisting time, entropy, and the loss of its creators, persisting in the form of ruins and artifacts of their civilization. Beyond their artifacts, one of the key inventions of their people also endured: The Dust._

 _Perhaps the most unique—and least understood—of all of their creations, 'Dust' is the moniker given to a substance made, in fact, out of networked nanomachines. It was created by The Endless, presumed to have been used in the past to aid the Torian at their life throughout the stars and to adapt them to new worlds. It now remains as an eerie reminder of their civilization; a tool that both took their people to its apex, and the one key piece in their devastation._

 _Today, even the brightest of our minds still cannot comprehend and utilize its full potential. Nonetheless, explorers, researchers, traders and all sorts of individuals properly skilled—or lucky—enough to handle these nanomachines seek their fortunes in searches for Dust akin to treasure hunts. Most of those seeking Dust artifacts aim to study their power, or to offer them for the highest bidder, but some are willing to take the risks to achieve more than just wealth or power._

 _The polar opposite of simple, the Dust has proven itself to be surprisingly beyond that. Likely mistaken for 'magic' by the untrained eye, some of its properties are certainly above anything we have ever made. Its outlandish 'symbiosis' with systems and even living creatures that are exposed to it, adding to the behavior of Dust as a strange collective, allows it to become more powerful and 'smarter' as it links and networks with other systems and its own. Those traits have set it apart from anything seen among the civilizations that rose after The Endless._ _Ever since its advent, Dust is found in almost every remnant of Endless technology, be it in temples, in ships, or in raw storage. Regardless, finding ruins of the Endless in working condition_ _—_ _let alone controlling this substance_ _—makes it highly valued despite being only relatively rare._

 _However, the risk in becoming one of the so-called 'Dust Adepts' makes most wary of Dust augmentation, as it still bears dangers as a poorly understood, alien construct. Resilient, strong-willed individuals have been said to gain awe-inspiring powers and abilities. Conquering fame and achieving their goals with notable prowess, Adepts become valuable individuals… Great strategists and warriors, scholars of seemingly insatiable knowledge, and influential leaders_ , all of which have been seen to turn the tide in favor of their nations _after their ascension to Adepts._

 _Today, we learn from The Endless despite their fall, breaking ground by using the apex of their constructs, the legacy of Tor becoming permanently written down for all others who followed. We seek to unravel the secrets of the stars: the universe, a mystery to be solved..._

 _Perhaps the Torian may not be the only ones to remain as "endless"._


	2. Prologue

**Prologue:**

 _Dealing with the unpredictable is part of life. Sometimes things may take turns nobody would even believe to be possible. In others, we can be thrown straight into adversity. Some say having to live through adversity and the unexpected shapes us, making us more than just faceless bystanders in life, giving us our own means to pen history as we will._

 _There are some rare times, however, where a special type of person seems to shine… They can read the tide of change, use it to their favor against any trial they have to stand through, thus having name forever written into history for the great achievements they attain through life._

 _I'm still trying to find out if I'm one of these, despite what people keep telling me. Some say I've built my career on achieving the 'impossible'… But when I look up to the stars, I feel the universe out there is far too wide for someone like me to be special in any way…_

 _The way I see it… I'm just a pilot._

 _I'm James McCloud II. Today I'm a private pilot affiliated with Corneria's Defense Force, as captain and squadron leader of the StarFox team._

 _Piloting runs in the family, and I'm carrying my father's legacy forth by bearing the same team name and insignia he once used. In his life, he'd created a strike team that was praised for its service record. James McCloud I and his StarFox team played a massive role in the conflict that spanned across the whole system—the so called "Lylat Wars"._

 _After rising tensions and many violent demonstrations by the then-Venomian Empire, a large-scale offensive was launched against all the planets under Cornerian authority. Led by the former scientist, Walter Andross, the Empire gave a clear message that none would stand in their way._

 _As the offensive grew stronger, aces and rising stars were put to lead the CDF against Andross. The original StarFox team sent to the offensive front, dealing important blows against the Empire in strategic points of the system as the rest of the struggle continued throughout the planets._

 _Alongside one of his long-time friends and a mercenary he'd met, the three pushed through each planet and each mission they were assigned to, assisting Corneria's fleets. It was almost as if the three were made to be a perfect fit—the spearhead of the counter-offensive, striking against all odds… That is, until my father was betrayed._

 _During a mission in a far-off world, my father had been shot down by one of his own teammates. The mercenary, Sigma Dengar; he sold himself off to the Empire, acting as a mole at the time, and disappeared for years after shooting down my father…_

 _From that point on, my father's friend and remaining member of the team was the one who was left alive to tell the story. Things haven't been the same ever since. He took me in, however, and had me settle until I was done with Corneria's flight academy._

 _The Cornerian forces in the conflicts that followed lost some of their momentum, but Andross was still stopped at the time. The years that followed had a distinct tension, with the fear of more attacks almost tangible._

 _Chase Perrault, the last surviving member of the team, was sort of a mentor to me during that time. Once I'd finished my training and left the academy, I joined up with him to create a new team._

 _This was when the StarFox team had its chance to shine once more._

* * *

 _Perrault and I weren't the only ones in the new team, though. Two friends I made during my years in the flight academy decided to join the team once it was created—an engineer and a pilot. Sully Nielsen and Aldo Lombardi were two trustworthy cadets that added with their skills to the team;_

 _Motor mouth, reckless, and with a knack for snide dialogue, Aldo "Falco" Lombardi is what you'd expect from a hotshot pilot and excels at flying the Arwing, but isn't afraid of showing off his skill. This one steel blue-eyed falcon of dark blue feathers leaves no doubt about his abilities as a pilot, but sometimes he does push his luck in battle…_

 _Chase "Peppy" Perrault has a lot of experience from what he has seen and done, and is still good during space combat. Despite being at his late fifties, this grizzly, gray-furred and brown-eyed hare is still a good pilot and expert team commander. Previously, he shared the position of commanding the mission from the CCV Endurance with ROB, our operations drone._

 _Sullivan "Sully" Nielsen is a starfighter engineer and deals swiftly with nearly any tech he can put his hands on, considered almost a prodigy due to his relatively young age. A fox, light orange fur and short hair with dark blue eyes, his somewhat frail physique is not one of a soldier, but his valuable skills are elsewhere; Tweaking, reprogramming, fixing, upgrading… you name it, he can get it done. Sadly, he's never been a crack shot, but he can manage._

* * *

 _Once our team took flight again, we've been officially recognized by the Cornerian Defense Force as a 'private air-space security and strike force'. Ever since the dawn of Lylat's space age, PMCs, mercenaries, military-grade security consulting and other private forces of the sort became common._

 _Cornerian authority is limited, and spreading their security forces too thin would give opportunities for pirates and other criminals in the system. Private forces and security are valued as a complementary security asset—but are just as likely to become a liability once they start operating outside of Cornerian law._

 _Not long after we started running our own PF, another conflict with remnants of the Venomian Empire broke out. Andross was out for revenge against Corneria. With a number of simultaneous attacks over widespread areas of the system, it was once again time for the StarFox team to enter the scene. This time, my friends and I pushed battlefield by battlefield with the Cornerian forces until we'd reached his last stand._

 _With his fortress entrenched at the world of Venom, getting through his fleet was a difficult task, though not impossible. Down at the skies of Venom, however, another mercenary team was the challenger for that conflict. The Star Wolf team, long-time rivals and skilled, though ruthless mercenaries, they were contractors working for the highest bidder. Their team members: Aiden O'Donell—a skilled team leader; Leon Powalski—a sharpshooter, Andrew Oikonny—the nephew of Andross himself; and Sigma Dengar… However, despite their skill, their luck wasn't quite the same as ours. They were serving as a last line of defense for Andross' plans, and despite their advanced fighters, we still could overcome our own limits with the Arwings, defeating them._

 _The rest, as some say, is history. With his aces defeated, Andross was eliminated in a later operation with the Cornerian forces besieging the Empire's homeworld. The war was over, and a time of relative peace followed._

* * *

 _Even with our team spirit and unity, it seems we still had not solved personal issues and tensions. This came to a peak with frequent arguments and animosity. Time passed, some things changed, and we all still had our differences. Things became too tense for a while, and eventually Aldo left the team as a solo pilot after some trouble between the four of us._

 _By the time he left, I'd received a new mission from Corneria. I was supposed to investigate strange activity on planet Sauria in a solo mission. As it turns out, it was more complicated than first thought. An uprising of a dominant reptilian warrior race was happening._

 _The so called "Sharpclaws" had gotten their hands on fairly advanced technology for their civilization, which made matters more difficult to handle on my end; the mission was deemed of sensitive nature by the chiefs of staff, and I was sent to Sauria with OSP (on-site procurement) for any weapons or equipment._

 _One artifact I'd obtained from Sharpclaw warrior, a battle staff, was the only means of defense I found during that mission, taken from an outsider they'd captured and imprisoned._

 _This staff was embedded with a psychic distress call of its owner, who I struggled to find during the mission. Later, this one person eventually became one of our team members._

 _Her name is Krystal. She was on Sauria as a sole survivor of a disaster from a faraway star system, escaping the destruction by sheer fluke. She found herself sent to this strange world, but became determined about finding the truth about the destruction of her civilization, which was wiped out from its homeworld during a mysterious cataclysm. However, nobody is entirely certain of how that came to be._

 _Until later, most believed that Sauria and Krystal's homeworld, Cerinia, had no connection to each other. But although their technologies were not developed enough to communicate with each other, their civilizations were strangely similar, and it is suspected that deity-like figures shared between both cultures, the "Krazoa", were in fact responsible for this connection._

 _Little is known about the Krazoa other than their ability to travel the stars. Now presumed to be an ancient alien civilization, their puzzling and ancient technological constructs allowed Krystal to escape the catastrophe that destroyed her world. Krystal managed to reach Sauria, and several months after recovering, having spent a while living with the locals, she caught wind of the Sharpclaw uprising. Selflessly, she tried to take part in stopping their leader from inciting a war between factions, either by persuasion or challenging him to a duel, but was captured and imprisoned later._

 _The Sharpclaw uprising was coincided by strange events such as gravitational anomalies and mysterious ethereal apparitions rumored among the locals. While in Sauria, I'd met one of the Saurian faction leaders, who informed me about what was causing this. As it turns out, the planet was enduring those strange events as certain of the Krazoa's artifacts of power kept their world stable. However, they were taken by the Sharpclaws, in a short-sighted move to power their own war machines, plunging their world into instability._

 _Recovering those artifacts and placing them back where they belonged was one task, but dealing with the Sharpclaws during their uprising was a problem of its own. I was sent in unarmed, and only by luck had found Krystal's staff, but I still managed to carry out the mission._

 _While I was in one of the Krazoa temples, I'd found Krystal captive. She was imprisoned, held in stasis inside a solid crystalline entity which seemed to be powered by the Krazoa's ancient devices. I'd managed to shut it down and free her. That's when the Sharpclaw general, the leader of the uprising, had caught up with my actions. He'd tried to personally take me down, savage in strength. That still wasn't enough, however, as he was swiftly dealt with, falling to his death off the temple's cliffside during the duel._

 _After this, the uprising fell in strength and grinded to a halt. With their war machines powerless, the Sharpclaws' offensive failed and the other Saurian factions returned to their original ways. All that was left uncertain was Krystal's fate. She had found no clues about what destroyed her people, and had nowhere to stay._

 _It was then that I invited her to stay in our ship until she could settle properly somewhere else. She accepted, and we left Sauria together. For a short while sheltered on the CCV Endurance, she didn't seem shocked or even confused at the differences between our technology and her civilization's. Even if they seemed to be early on their steps, Krystal appeared to have a fair understanding of what was new around her. Rather than shock or confusion, she seemed to be in both curiosity and wonder about this new world she's been taken to. Either ahead of her time, or just a fast learner, she seemed to start learning from us soon after she was aboard the ship._

 _This had gotten Perrault's attention. After a while on Corneria, either she didn't feel like she would get used alone there, or she'd grown fond of the CCV Endurance and being with the team. He suggested her fast learning would make her a good team member._

 _After that point, it was a clear her stay would be for a longer term._

* * *

 _Krystal's decision to stay with the team gave her a place to live at, but just that didn't fully heal her emotional scars. Without any clue of what happened to her people, and having to start a new life right after that tragedy wouldn't be easy. Being part of a private force might not have been an ideal start, but the others and I still did what we could to help her in that time of need. She is one of us now._

 _Krystal seemed to have a clear determination to carry on after being encouraged. She became a close friend with the teammates, and showed gratitude for being helped ever since Sauria. Despite rather broken after her loss, she showed a remarkable will to live and keep moving forward that few would have when under the same situation._

 _While living in the CCV Endurance, Krystal had decided to make herself resourceful as a team member. While not being especially noteworthy at assault combat, she did show an affinity for reconnaissance with her sharp senses, innate extra-sensory perception, and a steady hand at sharpshooting._

 _As we knew each other better, Krystal had shown herself as gentle, yet reliable and helpful. Not just a fast learner and a good shot, but perhaps because of her innate empathy, this improved understanding of others. She has also helped lowering animosity among the team and lightening the tone of our lives aboard the ship._

 _It may as well go without saying, but as we lived together, I grew fond of her. Krystal didn't seem to mind it, though; as time went by, it seems the feeling was mutual._

* * *

 _Not long after Sauria, Aldo had returned. Despite his adamant decision of leaving prior, either he felt it wasn't worth it, or he isn't so much of the solo ace he made himself out to be._

 _Things seemed to have calmed down, both among the team and the rest of Lylat. It was only a few years after Sauria that we've actually gotten a big mission._

 _With Andross dead, the rest of his followers and supporters fell in disorder, but that didn't stop them from trying to incite a rebellion. Generally, they were comprised of the remnant forces of the former Venomian Empire, but what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in strategic targeting and concealment. Despite their tactics, as soon as their cover was blown their outposts were easily neutralized and their troops forced back into their fringe hideouts, with their leader, Andrew Oikonny, Andross' nephew, running across Lylat into his last-resort territories._

 _We thought that it was a matter of time until things were back in order for Corneria. But the situation became desperate, as even though Oikonny was defeated, we were put against another enemy._

* * *

 _The Aparoids. An insectoid race which infects and assimilates any and all technology, life forms and anything else into their hive. The Corneria Defense Force had faced one of them in the past, and there were few survivors of the encounter with the single Aparoid. It had a size that rivalled Corneria's cruisers and showed startling power._

 _Their invading forces attacked locations in Lylat indiscriminately, having appeared first in Fortuna, and then invading Katina. Eventually, they had reached Corneria itself, causing spread panic and chaos through the cities. Even though a joint effort of private forces and Corneria's army obtained victory, the damage done by the Aparoids cost many lives._

 _In the middle of the chaos, some tried to raid, steal and pillage as authorities drew thin and were diverted to stop the Aparoid threat. One of those war profiteers was Sigma Dengar. The same mercenary that had killed my father._

 _Sooner or later, his greed would be the death of him. After stealing an Aparoid core that the CDF and our team had recovered to analyze for potential weak points, he was assimilated by the Aparoid hivemind, and turned into a husk of fused flesh and metal. Everything he had before was his greed for personal gain, but even that was taken away from him as he became nothing more than an empty shell. After he and his infected ship had attempted to attack our team, the only thing that could be done was to get rid of what was left of Sigma…_

* * *

 _The research division of the CDF was under pressure to get results against the Aparoids, but in the end, they found a weapon to destroy them with one strike. Their hive mind was in fact their biggest weakness, as their queen had the ability to trigger their self-destruction at will. And from a recovered memory core, we could finally pinpoint their homeworld's location._

 _All that was left was to kill the queen with a device that would trigger the self-destruction across all Aparoids._

 _After refitting a number of cruisers and the CCV Endurance with experimental jump drive technology to reach their system, a last offensive was made to take them down for good. As our team flew into battle deep down into the Aparoid homeworld, destroying the queen was the only remaining mission of this conflict. But it was no easy task, as the entire path was swarming with Aparoids._

 _It was then that, surprisingly, a former nemesis proved themselves worthy allies. The Star Wolf team flew with us into battle, this time, against the Aparoid threat. Perhaps someone outbid their rivalry towards us, or maybe a common enemy sparked their sense of honor. Regardless, even against the enemy's last stand, they showed great prowess in battle._

 _We were victorious, and flew out of the collapsing planet as the queen was finally exterminated, although this victory came at the cost of losing the CCV Endurance. The ship had been attacked by the Aparoids with intense force, and the only way we managed to open a path into the queen's chamber was with the combined force of the CCV Endurance's weapons… And ramming the ship itself into the planet. Perrault, who was captaining the ship, and ROB, our operations assistant drone that controlled the rest of the ship's systems, managed to survive the impact and evacuate the planet on an escape ship, but what was left of the CCV Endurance was ultimately destroyed as the whole Aparoid homeworld was destroyed with it._

 _The fleet had also suffered significant losses, but we still managed to claim stake as victors. Star Wolf had disappeared into Lylat once the Aparoids were destroyed, and the system slowly rebuilt what we had lost. Finally things were settling, and it seems that even with all that happened, we'd finally encountered some peace._

 _Through all this, each and every one of us in the team grew closer, each one hardened by battle and stronger as a whole when united._

 _This was our story until now. And I'm sure we're far from seeing the end of it…_


	3. Chapter I: Resurgence

**Chapter I: Resurgence**

8th of Month Seven, 2979 GST – James McCloud's personal apartment.

It was a cool, quiet evening at Corneria City…

 _Reconstruction work in Corneria City was making great progress; nearly the entire cityscape had already been rebuilt. The remaining debris from the previous conflicts gradually gave place to all-new skyscrapers and buildings. Quite a sight to see; Light shafts shining through the skyscrapers and buildings as Lylat's star was setting down, glowing brightly on the horizon, with Solar shining as it reflected some of its light._

 _By that time, I had heard some news from Corneria Orbital Shipyards: the CCV Endurance Mk. II was almost complete, with few steps left at the construction. Saying it was a 'gift' from Space Dynamics and the CDF chiefs of staff wouldn't even begin to describe it, as after we sacrificed our old tactical escort-class ship against the Aparoid threat, we were left without a ship. However, not only as a replacement, the second iteration of the CCV Endurance was to be refit with what they only described as "a special favor called in from the science division"._

 _Their latest developments in starship construction would all use the CCV Endurance II as their testbed. Larger than the first, the new CCV Endurance was to be built as a full battleship instead of a heavy escort, with our team at the helm and a full crew. The CDF was clearly very grateful after what we had done during the Aparoid crisis._

 _However, thoughts about the CCV Endurance only took part of my attention. Looking down at the burgeoning city, seeing the trails of vehicles and the city lights illuminating the vista, I couldn't stop myself from enjoying the moment and taking it all in._

 _Nothing in Lylat compared to these cities when in regards of sheer size and density; skyscrapers of all types scattered across the city, even as the night falls, the planet's cities teeming with both citizens and visitors. From space, the city lights are still clearly visible. Krystal seemed delighted the first time she saw the planet personally, probably in no small part due to our cities._

 _In the middle of my thoughts, I was interrupted by the sound of a door sliding open. Turning to its direction, I see the familiar figure of a blue vixen._

* * *

As the door slides open, Krystal walks out into the balcony to join the sightseeing. She was wearing a long grey-and-white dress, a silver pendant with a sapphire by her neck. The faint orange glow of the sunset lit the white fur on her face, contrasting with her blue hair and emerald-green eyes. Krystal had a tranquil expression as she looked at the other vulpine before approaching the parapet.

"Ah, there you are… I can't blame you for staying here a while longer; to be honest, I can't have enough of this sight either." Krystal says, smiling as she leans on the balcony's parapet. "Your people are unlike anything I've seen before, James. Despite these wars, I see they still make every effort count as Corneria rebuilds. I can see all of this will be finished in no time." She continues, looking down into the horizon. "It's inspiring…"

"I hear you on that. Despite everything, they… _we_ still stand, thanks to our team, and everyone who fought by our side to protect Corneria." James replies, holding onto Krystal's hands. "Though I can see why they'd fight for the so-called 'jewel of Lylat'; I guess beautiful things are worth protecting after all…" he adds, placing his right hand on top of Krystal's left hand.

"Ah, stop! You're just trying to make me blush again, aren't you...?" Krystal replies with a giggle, her tail swaying to the sides for a few moments. "Still, I suppose it's true… Despite all hardships, it seems your people still persevere to move forward, to keep Corneria as the one great homeworld of your people."

She looks up at the sky, with evening slowly turning into night at the far side of the city. Her gleeful expression of admiration for Lylat's people slowly gives place to a distant, concerned gaze as her thoughts bring memories of her own people.

"…You know… Sometimes I wish I could still say the same about my people…" Krystal continues, furrowing her brows slightly as the smile becomes less present on her face. "Having to start over, a new life on a strange world, full of people I couldn't quite understand...? I wasn't sure if I could do it at first. I didn't even think it could be done."

Krystal may have lived in Corneria for some time, but the memories of her homeworld were still fresh in her mind, perhaps as a lasting act of fondness to her home, or maybe out of respect for her late people. Regardless, she truly did miss the old life that was forcibly taken from her.

Corneria was much different from what she was used to in Cerinia; Lush rainforests sprawled across all the major continents of the planet, with exception of the poles, a few dry zones and its oceans. Little of it was changed by the way of life the Cerinians had, building their simple cities among the rainforest, generally near to several Krazoa temples and ruins scattered around the world.

"It hasn't even been so long since that happened… Feels like it was a whole lifetime, yet just a few years ago, everything I knew was just… gone. None of us really knew what was happening, and of all people, I ended up surviving, alone…" She says, leaning on James with a long sigh, closing her eyes. Her ears lower and her tail stops as she remembers her world's demise. "I'm sorry; I didn't want to dwell on this… I don't suppose there's much to be done about it…"

A tear is shed from her left eye, sliding down her face. Krystal then shakes her head to the sides, and wipes the tear off with her right hand. Opening her eyes, still leaning on James, her somewhat saddened expression once again gives place to a discreet smile.

"Then again… I guess I have you all to thank for taking me in. I've grown fond of Corneria—no doubt because of how you guys just became like family to me, same for our friends and comrades…" Krystal adds. "I don't know if my world will ever be the same or if it's still even there… But I can see why this world is also worth caring about…" She finishes, resting her head on his chest and holding him in an affectionate embrace.

"I understand… It's really great to see you're being able to find your way through this, even with all that happened… Your determination really shows." James holds Krystal closely in his gentle embrace, caressing her hair. "And if it ever comes down to depend on me, you'll never really be alone. I promise."

Krystal was blushing slightly, ears perking up, and a more distinct smile of happiness on her face as she hears the words from James.

She then looked up at the other fox's dark green eyes. Such calm, quiet moments were uncommon between missions. At that time however, no such discomfort was present. James' happiness to be able to enjoy that time with Krystal was salient, with an expression of joy on his face as his tail wags slowly.

Krystal's eyes close as she's caressed and embraced by James. She could sense some of his thoughts, and it felt to her that James was sincere about what he had said. Though he still had his people, James knew what loss felt like after the death of his family, and it seems he would stop at little to keep Krystal protected. Nevertheless, the pair enjoyed this moment of intimacy.

The seemingly perfect conditions gave them a sense of peace and quiet uncommon to their lives; the sunset turning the skies at the horizon into a warm red tint, the upper skies on a darkened orange with the stars slowly fading into sight, the city lights slowly turning lit, and a relative silence, even on the open balcony in the middle of the city. The couple closes their eyes, leaning on one another. Holding each other still in a hug, they stay that way for a few short, sweet moments. Krystal's tail wags as her ears relax and lower.

Afterwards, James lets Krystal go. She bashfully looks to the side, with a short, joyful laugh, and smiles as she opens her eyes to look back at James.

"Thank you, James…"

Another short moment of peace and quiet follows with the two looking down at the horizon. Not too long after, an incoming call tone from James' hand terminal is heard at his pocket.

"Aw, what a shame… That silence could have lasted a little longer." James says, slowly shaking his head while leaned onto the parapet. The repeated chime of the call sound across the balcony.

"It's alright, James, go ahead and answer it. I'm sure we'll still have plenty of time." She says, resting her head on his shoulder for a moment, then letting go of his hands and backing away. "Besides, it should probably be important."

"Important, huh. You're sure one to talk about that sort of thing." James remarks, caressing her hair and ears for a moment. Krystal laughs and blushes a little in response.

* * *

James looked at his hand terminal and saw the call ID, answering it shortly after:

"Well now, if it isn't Aldo…" James greets the familiar face through the video call. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Anything interesting you have to tell me?"

"Hey James. Actually, yeah; I just got a new job offer from the CDF, figured you'd like to hear about it sooner rather than later. Seems like something simple, but they wouldn't let many details out." The blue avian replies. "I'm not sure of specifics—the contract was somewhat vague, but they probably want some guard duty with experimental technology transportation. I'm guessing it's probably classified, so that might be the reason for the vague message."

"That's just a guess, though. In short: 'The CDF Science Division is requesting the services of Captain James McCloud and his team in a matter which may require the private military "StarFox" tactical strike unit. We request your utmost discretion at this matter: Report to CDF HQ for a detailed briefing of this mission'." Aldo adds, reading the letter.

"There's also an NDA and a few standard privacy concern lines, so they insist to keep it a personal briefing rather than sending the details on mail… Anyway, I don't know why the _Science Division_ is calling _us_ , but ah… the pay seems pretty good. They even threw in a little extra for our accounts right from the start as incentive."

"Huh, so it pays well. How much we are exactly talking here?" James asks, now a little more interested about the matter.

"Enough credits to build a life-sized Arwing sculpture out of gold, probably. The number here has quite a few zeroes, and the bonus they added to our accounts should be able to get our Arwings an upgrade or two."

"...Ah, riiight..." James says in a now doubtful tone. "You can't be serious."

"Hey, I'm serious, man! I'm still wondering how they got that many credits in the first place, but that's beside the point. The thing is, I wouldn't lie to you guys about something that big, and even if I did, you'd think someone would notice when the payment fell too large on my side. Wouldn't end pretty for me in the long run if you guys caught me embezzling credits or something." Aldo quips. "Either way, I think it's worth checking out."

"Yeah, right. Though, since they're government-funded, that pay line might just be true. So let's suppose I'm interested." James states. "Isn't Sully's former teacher Professor Beltino Lopez? He's the research director; he can probably tell us some more about this."

"I tried calling him, but he doesn't answer. Beltino's probably busy with something there" Aldo replies. "Also, Sully said he'd go check things out by the HQ but he just zoomed off without saying anything else to me. I think he also forgot his communicator again, 'cause I can't reach his number."

"Well, that could be a problem… Might as well just meet up with Sully at the HQ, then." James says, shrugging. "Krystal and I will go there and we'll wait on you for a detailed briefing." He adds.

"Alright then James. I guess I'll go now—" Aldo says, but stops mid-sentence with a devious smirk on his face.

"Something wrong?" James asks about the silence.

"Naaah, nothing. You're at home, right..? Did you just say Krystal's there with you?"

"Gah… Later, Aldo." James hangs up, rolling his eyes.

* * *

"Looks like we already have a new task." Krystal comments, swishing her tail to the sides.

"Perhaps. I don't think we need to worry too much with this one. If it's just an escort task, it'll might just take a few days, I don't think a lot of action can happen in a cargo escort, anyway."

"Well, we'll find out what that really is soon enough." Krystal says, smiling a little. "I better get going now; otherwise Aldo may call again to ask why we're taking too long and… Well..." She adds, as she winces with her eyes and raises her eyebrows slightly.

"…And we'd probably never hear the end of it, figures." He rolls his eyes around and then starts walking indoors, knowing how true Krystal's comment may just be. Before he's able to go back into the apartment, though, he's held by Krystal's hand.

"Before I go, though, just one thing, James…"

She nears her face to James once again, and gives him a short, gentle kiss to his lips.

"Thanks again, for everything. Take care." Krystal says in a soft tone, almost a whisper. "We'll meet again later."

After Krystal backs away from James, she goes on ahead of him, stopping at the door to look back at James with a smile before leaving.

* * *

Leaving a small shuttle transport, James arrives at the headquarters building, already in his officer outfit. Walking past the shuttle pad, he's greeted at the entrance with the sight of Krystal, Aldo and Sully at some seats; the reception lobby had a few CDF officers around, though at that time in the night not too many people other than a few reception staff members and security officers were around.

The area had its own decorative flair albeit being a military construction, having a spacious entrance area lit by several white wall lights, with a number of seats for guests and visitors. A few holographic displays had encouraging quotes of Cornerian leaders of the past, and others displayed scrolling name lists in memory of the men and women lost during the Aparoid crisis. James avoided distractions, however, in order to not delay the others. As he neared the rest of the team, though, he noticed Beltino wasn't to be seen there.

"So, you're here. Looks like we can get this thing started." Aldo says as the vulpine arrives, arms crossed. "Sully, could you tell us about what Beltino wants?"

" _You_ tell me. I ran here as soon as I got that mail, so I don't know either! I thought he would be here by now." Sully says, swishing his tail to the sides anxiously. "Wonder why he—"

"Pardon me for the delay. A bit late, but here I am." Sully is interrupted as Beltino walks into the scene. "Perhaps just at the right time as well."

"Hello, Beltino. Always nice to see you again." James greets the coyote, shaking the researcher's hand. "So, what is it you need from us? I assume it's something important since you gathered all of us here."

"Indeed it is James. Though, it's something… rather sensitive in nature, I'd say. I insist that we hold the briefing on a more restricted area—some details are classified." Beltino states.

James nods accordingly, and proceeds to follow Beltino with the others.

"May I ask, where exactly are we going now, professor?" Krystal speaks up during the short walk at a hallway inside the building.

"We'll be heading down to my personal office for the briefing—we'll be able to discuss the matter more freely once we get there." he answers.

After following Beltino for a bit, they find a wide elevator door. Beltino uses a keycard in a console besides it, unlocking and opening the elevator.

"The lift will take us down into the research levels, which is also where the Science Division holds some of our assets. Shall we move on?" Beltino says.

As the team steps into the elevator, it quickly starts heading down. For a brief moment, the lights flicker, and at the same time, Krystal flinches, as if something had disturbed her for a second.

"Hey, what was that?" James asks, looking at Krystal.

"I'm... I'm not sure. I think I just sensed something—I'm guessing it's down below in the laboratories." She answers, rubbing her left hand at the side of her face in an attempt to wear this odd feeling off.

"Hm… It seems like your extra-sensory abilities are showing you some signs of one of our current projects ahead of time. Do not worry though; we'll get on that later." Beltino explains.

* * *

The lift unlocks and opens as it comes to a stop, this time revealing a research laboratory. The holographic monitors and large viewscreens were visible in all directions, being seen at the same time there were assemblies of machinery under testing and researchers conducting all kinds of studies. Between the experimental hardware here and there, certainly it was more lively than the lobby. Sully lets his fascination towards technology drive him around, dazzled at the new tech. He followed the others, though with his eyes and mind wandering elsewhere, looking at all the technicians working in the lab.

"Welcome to the CDF Science Division's Alpha section. We'll be at my office shortly." Beltino says. "Sorry about the hassle to get here, but the extra security is a required measure to make sure nothing we create falls into the wrong hands."

"And are your people doing dangerous work here?" Krystal asks Beltino.

"All science can be dangerous when wrongly used, that you may be sure of." The coyote replies. "For example, power cells like those at the canister behind us are quite volatile, and they may go critical if handled without care. Believe me when I say you wouldn't want that to happen near you; it would be a rain of molten steel with debris all over the place."

"But you've got the whole military headquarters right on top of you! You'd either need some real guts or a pretty short sight to come here shooting." Aldo says.

"Well, yes, we are aware of that. But still, all safety is little for the work we do here. We also bring fighter and starship developments out of the concept stage by making our prototypes here, which would mean a great deal of trouble if Corneria's enemies got their hands on it." Beltino says. "And that is among other risks that just the experimental technology in and of itself can pose."

"Come on, it's not like you're making some bio-weapon parasite or turning people into cyborgs… right?" Aldo says in a mocking tone, but wonders out loud for a moment.

"Hah! You've been watching too many 'lab accident' horror movies, Aldo." Beltino muses. "Along weapons development, we do have projects for things such as chemical boosters, experimental infantry armors and regenerative compounds that aid in combat healing and unit resistance, which would definitely give a military opponent an edge at combat, but that's not the matter at hand here. Please, follow me."

As the researcher and the team walk through the large hall, Krystal looks around the sides quickly, and whispers to James;

"James, remember that strange presence I sensed in the elevator?"

"Yes. What is it, Krystal?" James replies.

"I can still feel it over here, but it feels stronger the closer we get. I don't know what it is, but it's definitely not something I've ever felt, and I think we're getting definitely close to it." Krystal says.

"Hm. I'm not sure if I like what I'm hearing." James states, furrowing his brows, thoughtful. "Tell me if you can make anything else out of this."

* * *

The group enters an office room by the side walls of the underground lab halls. From the looks of it, they can tell this is Beltino's office. Adorned with a few small plants and a wide lobby couch at one side, and a steel-and-glass desk with a small Arwing sculpture at the other, there is not much else to see. At the far side of the room, there is a wide window with the laboratory hall outside. The room is soundproofed, so as the doors close behind them, the only noise to be heard is their own footsteps', along with the permanent air ventilation shafts.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I think I strayed off back there." Sully proceeds to enter the room last, hurriedly. "I'd love to check out the kinetic barrier generator prototypes that your team is working on some time!"

"I'm sure there will be time for that later." Beltino sits on his desk chair. "Have a seat, please." He adds, gesturing towards the couch.

As Beltino types in some commands into his computer, shutters block view from and to the window. A holographic display lights up in the middle of the room, between his desk and the couch, displaying data about some sort of exploration effort.

"So, let us begin. A few years ago, not too long before your mission to take down Oikonny, Lylat's government privately decided to create a long-range exploration effort in order to expand our current knowledge of our stellar neighborhood and seek planets that could be possible interstellar colonization goals. Since we've encountered proof of other space-faring civilizations in various planets, such as the Krazoa both in Cerinia per Krystal's reports during previous interviews, and Sauria, this was a clear sign that other races are—or at least, were, out there already." He says.

"Yes, I remember the similarity between your Krazoa ruins and those back at my homeworld. When I saw their palace in Sauria, their structures were almost identical to the ones in Cerinia." Krystal says. "I've read about similar structures at Aquas. From the descriptions, they also seem to match…"

"Indeed they are. It appears that the Krazoa have mastered the use of some sort of warping transportation method found in Sauria to move between planets they lived at, and from your report on how you came to Sauria in first place... Let me see here..." Beltino says, opening Krystal's report files. "It says here they also were able to use this even across different star systems by the use of a powerful version of those structures." He says. "Though, let us focus the matter at hand. For our exploration effort, we had assigned experts as explorers to attempt setting up small outposts at potential hospitable planets at systems Clavis, Taurus, Ysdrall and Decem. Three of planets across the systems bear temperate conditions similar to Corneria and are welcoming in climate and ecology, but some planets across the systems were more akin to arid worlds such as Katina, and the other half was colder, with climates closer to the global tundra and arctic seen at Fichina, and some barren worlds as well. Perhaps because their stars had relatively low temperatures."

"...Sooo. Where do we come into?" Aldo says, somewhat uninterested at the lecture.

"We'll get there. During our expeditions to planet Clavis-II, we've found an ancient wreckage of a starship of unknown origin. However, there was no sign of crew inside or outside. It was seemingly abandoned, most likely left adrift ages ago. Despite the fact time worn out a good portion of it, this spacecraft had impressive technology, but it was very difficult to study its components as most of it had either been destroyed or damaged beyond repair. We were able to make sense of some technology that still worked, though it did take some time." He continues with the explanation. "Now here's the thing…" He says, before displaying a star map in the hologram.

"You see, we're… here, Lylat." He pans the view at the hologram towards the system. "Some time after the exploration initiative was in motion, long-range probes identified a certain anomaly detected through gravitational waves that were caused at some point before the Rebellions. Originally we believed these to be ripples caused by a dense star cluster's interactions close to our system, or black holes merging at some other point of the galaxy, perhaps. However, the cause was neither. It was originated from a sector of space just a few light-years away from our system, and it is almost entirely empty."

"What does that mean?" Krystal asks, perplexed. "I don't understand how this could happen—if it was an empty area of deep space, nothing could have caused any gravitational disturbance, am I right?"

"Exactly. There were no stellar remains around the region. No black holes, no neutron stars. It was an unremarkable sector devoid of any significant stars, as such, nothing at that area of space that would cause this reaction, and there were no indications that it was caused by any natural occurrences from our galaxy." He answers. "We believed this to be some sort of spatial anomaly… A wormhole, perhaps."

"Please don't tell me Andross is coming back from the past… I've seen enough of that guy for a lifetime already…" Aldo remarks.

"Fortunately, Andross seems to be gone for good." Beltino stands up before continuing; "As I said, though, this wasn't an occurrence pertaining only our galaxy."

"Now, all the content that follows this is classified at top secrecy. Orders from the top of a specific Science Division branch, and few people in Lylat are supposed to know about this." Beltino adds. "Regardless of your intent of accepting or denying the mission, I want to be assured that you will not disclose any information about this to anyone else. Can I trust all of you with this?"

James looks around at the other team members. They nod at each other and him accordingly, followed by James' reply;

"My team and I will keep this matter private, Beltino. We won't spread this info." James states.

"Good. That much I'm already sure I can count on you for." He replies. "Moving on with the briefing though… We did a series of detailed scans using science ships that were being stationed at the vicinity of the sector." Beltino explains "The anomaly seemed stable in and of itself, wasn't expanding, had a weak gravity pull, and gave out only minor emissions aside from some electromagnetic radiation."

"However, during one of our scans… Energy signatures reached a peak, and a high amount of EM was released from the anomaly, jamming sensors and communications for a short time. We thought the anomaly would collapse or begin expanding, so we attempted to evacuate the region. However, before anything could be really done, something… interesting happened…"

Beltino once more changes the holoprojector's display, this time showing several images of a ship emerging from the wormhole. It was different from any profiles known in Lylat.

"...What kind of ship is that?" James asks.

"This is the first vessel we've encountered that originated from the anomaly." Beltino says, as he crops the image to a detail view of the ship. "Or rather, from the other side of the anomaly…"

"So that's a real, stable, intergalactic wormhole… But how? Did they create that?" Sully asks, trying to understand.

"The researchers at the sector also had these and many more questions in mind, but other issues took priority on the matter." Beltino states. "After this occasion, we obviously had to develop some sort of communication with the visitors." He adds. "Once we could establish communications, learning of each other's languages seemed to be made an easier task than first thought as they seemed to have xenolinguist experts in their own exploration vessel. It was revealed that in an effort of their people, or rather, joint effort between the several empires, races, factions and other major groups, they rebuilt an ancient, yet powerful device that sustained an artificial wormhole."

"So this has become a two-way passage between here and... where?" Sully asks.

"Their galaxy, of course. Now, I believe we should move out." Beltino says as he stands from his chair. The canine inputs a few last commands into his computer, shutting off the hologram and pictures, opening the shutters of the window again as few warning lights trigger around an elevator's blast doors on a nearby wall outside of the office. "I'd give you the tour of the complex, but perhaps we should keep this short. We'll head down directly to Division Omega."

"Division Omega… Is that the core of the first contact task-force?" Krystal asks.

"Indeed. It is also the deepest level in the complex. Now, let us move on."

The group walks out of Beltino's office, following him back on the path to the elevator.

* * *

The lift hits end of line, with its motors' whirring going silent. Breaking the darkness, floodlights suddenly turn on to reveal a solid metal wall, in a considerably large hollowed-out area. Its security devices consist of several turret-cameras, tripwire lasers, and most notably, armed Cornerian troopers with full-face helmets outside the elevator. An airlock at the far side of the chasm ahead is the only other point of interest, though the team is more astonished by the seemingly impervious work of engineering.

There isn't much else to see there, though. The poor lighting only aided by the elevator interior and the floodlights tilted upwards reveals that the structure was built into solid rock. A faint sound of air streams, however, suggests that there are other entrances to the area.

"…Just what the _hell_ do you guys keep in there?" Aldo asks, baffled by the whole construction and its enormous size. "That looks like it's built like a bunker or something."

"Well... It sure is a big wall." Sully says in awe.

"…That your personal observation, Sully?" Aldo mumbles, shaking his head.

Krystal's eyed the structure before her attentively. She can feel the same 'energy' that she felt earlier. Close to the entrance of Division Omega, the presence felt almost like a life-form, though it felt uncannily unnatural. Krystal felt intrigued.

Trying to attune her extra-sensory abilities to the unknown force, she concentrates, telepathically 'feeling out' this presence as the door prepares to unlock, without avail. _Why does this feel so strange_ _? It doesn't feel like a creature. Is it some artificial life form..? No, that isn't right… What in the world is there?_ She thought.

Krystal repeatedly attempts to 'tune' into the force, until she is surprised by an unexpected response. Her eyes widen as she has a sharp feeling, not entirely unlike an electric shock. She flinches and kneels down, with one hand on her chest, and the other holding on the guard-rail of the elevator platform. It was clear; this presence was powerful enough to interfere with her physically.

With this apparent 'sensory overload', James notices the obvious disturbance and rapidly goes to Krystal, with one hand on her shoulder.

"Krystal, I can see something's wrong with you. Is it that 'thing' you sensed again?" he asks, wearing a somewhat worried face. "You… seem to be having a bit of trouble with it..."

"Y-yes James. I tried sensing into it again... And whatever it is… I think it's _alive._ " Krystal replies, shaking her head and sighing as she comes back to her senses.

As she finishes speaking, the floodlights turn out, replaced by red rotating beacons along an audible klaxon. It is possible to notice a previously-invisible kinetic barrier deactivating around the huge metallic wall, as a pair of retractable bridges start closing onto each other.

As the bridges join together, the beacons shut down, replaced by only the elevator lights behind them, with a few strip lights turning lit and a decontamination chamber opening with only their sterile white look and lights, making the surroundings visible at the far side of the wall.

Krystal stands up from the floor, with James' aid. She wasn't quite sure of what she felt, but for a moment she could hear whispered words within her mind;

… _Tor…Dust…_ _Endless…_

 _...What kind of gibberish is that?_ Krystal thought, not understanding what these words meant.

James proceeds to check if Krystal was alright. Looking at her face, he could see that she now didn't express a feeling of grief at least, but instead she seemed confused, and rather lost.

At the moment, however, he didn't realize; he kept holding Krystal's hands, even after she stood up. He was brought to his senses, however, by Aldo;

"Hey, James! Krystal! You two just gonna stay there or what?"

"Oh, right—the chamber." James says, proceeding to walk with Krystal towards the decontamination room. "Seems like you're fine now, Krystal... But what was that?"

"I don't know... It was like something was whispering words to me... 'Tor, Dust, Endless'..." She answers.

"Tell me _you_ know what that means…" James says with a frown, not understanding. "But you said you felt it alive somehow. Did you manage to at least know what's actually there?"

"I don't think so..." She says, shaking her head. "Whatever it is, it's behind that one wall. We'll find out soon enough." She adds. "Let's get going. The others are waiting."

James nods accordingly, and continues walking. He was as puzzled as before, if not even more, but this did not stop him from thinking about the matter.

 _What was that all about, and what did those words even mean? Is Krystal's mind playing tricks on her? Perhaps we will find out really soon…_

The last beeping noises from the electronic locks, followed by the decompression sounds from the decontamination airlock were all the team really heard before their entrance to Division Omega.

* * *

As the airlock opens, the sight ahead of James and his teammates came as quite a surprise. Their initial fears of a weapon that could endanger Lylat or some experiment that could end up awry were shortly replaced by shock at the reality in their case.

The team was standing in an observation room, but what was beyond the glass wasn't just another part of the laboratory; it was a huge network of several modular laboratories underground, with sections built inside the underground metallic structure, laboratory modules from the floor to the walls.

As if this wasn't enough, the researchers weren't just Lylatian. What seemed to be a number of complex alien-looking robotic entities and strange-looking creatures were also conducting activities inside the area, and some even were wearing security armor and wielding weapons on their hands.

"Oh what the… Professor… That's…" Sully almost stutters, unable to come up with a response.

"Okay… That's not Andross again, but _damn_ , that's a lot of aliens." Aldo says. "I didn't expect so many of them to be working with you guys—especially here."

"…Okay… Working with aliens I can understand, but… Right under Corneria City? You realize this is crazy, right? If the people right above found out… I'm pretty sure that things could get bad, really fast." James objects.

"Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I have no doubt that if aliens just came walking down out of the building… Well, I know some people wouldn't like that idea. I remember during the wars some purist and racist splinter factions exploited the chaos and thin authorities to gain some influence, and I'm sure there are still some members hiding around. If anything, even a civil war could break out over this—"

"And these are just some of the reasons why we have this amount of security; to make sure a conflict doesn't break out among us or between the ones of your own." A male voice is heard from behind the group.

The figure walks near to them. Wearing what seemed to be a medium combat armor, it was possible to see that the being had a similar bipedal, two-handed frame of known lifeforms of Lylat. However, unlike common Cornerian races, he was no canine. Neither an avian such as some scattered over the system, nor reptilian in nature such as Venomian or Saurian natives, or of any similar appearance between variations of either. Somewhat resembled a Lylatian primate, but looked distinguishably different. The officer had a shaved head and light brown eyes. He had an insignia on his suit's chestplate, no doubt being some sort of authority among the aliens there.

"I understand that you realize both sides here could have a lot of trouble getting past their differences. Luckily, our initial meeting wasn't of hostile nature. We hope this can be of some help in our relations." He says. "Commander Markus Ford, chief of the _Joint Initiative of Interspecies Defense, Diplomacy, and Trade_ 's Tactical Forces and Operations in Lylat. I've heard of your team's achievements. The reports of your previous operations do your stories justice." Ford introduces himself and offers his hand to greet James with a handshake.

"Despite the secrecy and security force, we're not here for a conflict. I hope on that much we can settle an agreement at." He continues.

"We should find out soon enough. For the moment, a peaceful proposal already earns you some trust. I'll like to assume it's not misplaced." James replies, shaking Ford's hand.

"We'll be sure to make good use of your skills. Rest assured building bridges is the Joint Initiative's prime objective here in Lylat." Markus continues.

"Commander Ford, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have a question concerning… something which I'm sure is happening down here at Division Omega." Krystal states after the two greet.

"Anything in specific you wish to know? We'll be continuing the briefing with more important details and your mission objectives soon." He says.

"I'm… not actually sure what was causing it, but I felt some disturbances on the way down and just before I'd gotten here at Division Omega." She answers, looking out of the glass wall of the observation room. "I think you may have been informed of my innate extra-sensory abilities?"

"Yes, your ESP had a noteworthy importance on our files about the team. I've no doubt that this could come in use with us." He answers. "What sort of disturbances, though?"

"During the way down here, I've felt… some sort of psychic interference, a couple of times, that is. It felt stronger as we got near to the entrance." She says, while looking through the window trying to find a possible source of this 'presence'. "I also… heard whispers from it after some sort of strong feedback…"

"Hm… Perhaps you may have accidentally gotten in contact with a certain piece of technology that's quite unique to the operations center." Ford says. "Let's begin from the top about it." He adds while inputting commands into a nearby console. "I don't need to have ESP or any sort of such abilities to notice you're nervous about it. Don't worry, it's not going to be a problem to any of us here, and there's a reason for you to be able to sense and hear it."

A sliding platform comes to the group by the metal wall outside the room, and they proceed to step onto it. For a deep underground complex, it was very spacious. There actually were a number of hovering lifters and a small cargo shuttle in there.

While Krystal looks down at the site leaning at the platform's handrail, something seems to grab her attention. She spots what was perhaps a conduit system, with energy emanating from it. It was strong enough to be picked up by her ESP, and felt the same as the interference from before. The conduits had several lines of glowing appearance and shaped like circuitry of sorts on them.

"Commander, could I ask, what are these… these conduits, and what are they used for?" She asks, still looking down at the structures with a curious expression.

"Ah yes, those are conduits alright. Among the things they do, obviously they include power conduction and information distribution systems for the whole complex, but that's not just it. In a moment we'll get down there and you may just have your answers by then." He states.

"And what would their other purposes be?" Krystal asks.

The slow ride finally comes to an end as they reach the bottom of the main hall, and probably the deepest of part of the entire complex. Markus guides the team through the section, leading them into what seems to be the modular building housing the operations command module of the Division Omega complex, judging by how its equipment and crew were arranged. A few officers are on their workstations and the information center, with a rotating globe displayed, was right by the holoprojector in the middle of the area.

"Now, Krystal, let's see. What can you make of the surroundings?" The commander speaks, gesturing with his hand forth at the module room.

"Hmm... It seems like this is the area for the commanding personnel of the research complex…" Krystal replies, looking around the area to her sides and back over her shoulder.

"True enough, this is the main operations center." Ford says. "But let's see if you can see what's beyond obvious here. It might be a bit difficult to spot it at first, but see if you can concentrate your ESP to find anything unusual."

Krystal closes her eyes, attempting to isolate the foreign lifeforms from her mind, and focus on the same pattern she felt not too long ago. For a moment, it's difficult to make certain of anything unusual, with only the inert structure and the vague silhouette of the group before her and other individuals through the walls and ceiling.

However, as her senses become more attuned to her surroundings, the same pattern of energy she felt before was surging through the wall panels, the equipment, and appearing even as small wisps soaring around her and the others, though they soon dissipate.

Krystal gasps and loses focus, taking a step back and looking at the surroundings startled. _What was that all about?_

"What you probably heard, sensed or saw, is a technology that is the backbone of the civilizations on our galaxy. Billions of semi-intelligent nanomachines, capable of storing information, converting raw resources to energy, rearrange both of the former, and self-replicate on command. It would seem its only limitation is the lack of actual sentience." Ford comments, explaining the nature of those strange nanomachines.

"However, this technology isn't some recent innovation, but it still isn't fully understood by us either. It's been around ever since the first space-faring civilization we knew of reached the stars." Ford explains. "We call it 'The Dust', named after its common visible form." he adds. "Its presence is relatively common throughout our entire galaxy, and we've found it to have plenty of uses. From advanced logical operations to nano-repairs, healing, to replication, three-dimensional printing, energy converters, among many other uses."

"But… How? This technology is very advanced—though I'm sure its creators might be very well capable of explaining its nature." Krystal inquiries.

"I'm sure they could, but not anymore, perhaps. Little to nobody, or rather, anything that lasted from their time until our days – no species that we found save for a few remaining individuals that you can gather in this room – is directly related to the Dust." He states. "It's the last remnant of what can really be called a timeless civilization, considering this widespread legacy of theirs. They were called the Torian, and later became known as 'The Endless'."

"Wait, hold on a second there, 'they were'? Did 'The Endless' happen to _end_ somehow?" Aldo remarks at the irony of the name and the contrasting fate of the Torian.

"I guess that's one way to say it, Aldo. Rather, they ended each other. By the time my race figured their way into space, the people of Tor were already long gone. But for one thing, they really did mean to last. Their technology, science, even some of their history survived the eras after they died, and the Dust, sustaining itself even after its creators were long gone. Even if we can't understand its full potential, it's an admirable marvel of technology." Markus replies. "Next, you're probably going to ask: 'but how did the Torian people go extinct'?" Ford says.

"The answer is that even being excellent engineers, scholars and leaders, they still had their major disagreements within their own kind. And at the apex of their people, a war broke out between two split sides of their people; the so called 'Concrete Endless' and 'Virtual Endless'." Ford explains. "One side declared they had reached some sort of 'ascension' by transcending to a virtualized lifeform, using Dust as their vector, rejecting all of their organic bodies as inferior, disposable vessels. The Concrete saw that as extreme, began to question how far the Virtuals would go in their own libertine mindset, and soon, bitter resent grew into violent demonstrations, and those demonstrations into open war. From there on, it was a massive catastrophe."

"Their technology then was used to create devastating instruments of warfare second to none, and as the conflict drew longer, biological and cybernetic warfare assailed the Concrete and Virtual factions respectively, with few to none of the Torian people remaining after the conflict. It's believed some survived the conflict, but with the dependency on their galactic civilization, their chances were grim."

"…So they effectively annihilated each other, leaving no stone standing through the whole galaxy, am I right…? Not exactly a happy ending." James says upon hearing the history of the Torian.

"It's a tragic end for the tale of their people, I believe. But, I think you've heard enough for now." Ford continues. "I'll forward any relevant files later, but now, for your mission…"

Ford steps onto the information center's platform in the middle of the room, with the team by his side.

"I think Beltino already explained about our first contact, am I right?" Ford continues.

"Yeah, he did talk about the ancient wreckage, the wormhole to where you're coming from and all that." Aldo replies to the commander.

"He still didn't explain the reason for this whole operation to be going on here, though." James adds after Aldo's response. "And like I said before, wouldn't it be a real problem if people out there found out what's been going on here?"

"Indeed. So, here's what all of this is for. The Joint Initiative of Interspecies Defense, Diplomacy, and Trade is an organization that has been established a couple decades ago to forward the diplomatic interests of our civilizations and factions." Ford begins explaining the events until this point. "After discovering an ancient Endless artifact, we funded a collaborative project to attempt the restoration of this piece of Endless technology in deep space, believed to have never been fully completed and used. The schematics revealed this artifact turned out to be the skeletal remains of the device we call the 'Gateway', and it's what we've used to reach your galaxy. We're not sure whether the Endless ever reached your galaxy, though their project decidedly worked as we're standing here with you."

"Since the initial contact a few years ago, relations between Lylat and their galaxy have been relatively secretive yet generally peaceful, and no public announcements have been made as of yet. Only a few people within Corneria's highest-ranking scientific, military and diplomatic staff know about this endeavor." Beltino continues, adding to Ford's information.

"With everything proceeding smoothly, official contact was planned for around two or three years from now, but then… Some suspicious events happened, and it set back our plans to formally introduce ourselves by a few steps." Markus says, inputting commands to display information of some missing and destroyed ships at the information center's holoprojector. "First, a few of our cargo shuttles disappeared. Then there was some incident with another ship disappearance. A military-grade supply transport. After this, we reinforced security, but despite our efforts, we received a high-priority transmission of another military transport spotting suspicious activity; in the same transmission, there were reports of some explosion at the ship's engines, along a distress call, but once we got there… nothing. There was no trace of the ship at all."

"I presume it's been also captured by the perpetrators of the previous attacks." Krystal comments.

"That's one of our theories. Worse still, this last incident happened beyond the Gateway. It was in our territory, and all things considered, the only conclusion is that someone has infiltrated within our ranks either from our side, or yours." Commander Ford says. "I'm not going to point fingers here at anyone, we just don't have enough evidence to say anything, and it doesn't matter. The only clue we have is that it was someone with access to the Gateway, Lylat, and all the information involved."

"And I'm assuming our job is to find out who's been behind these attacks…" James cuts in.

"That would be one of your tasks in this mission." The commander says. "The second task… That would be an unusual request, considering your offered services, though I'm sure you may be able to handle it."

Ford uses the terminal of the information center, and changes the globe display of Corneria to a number of pictures of what seemed to be armed conflict, portraits of arrested criminals, texts describing corruption scandals and corporate warfare, pirate attacks, and other illicit and questionable activity.

"One issue with our civilizations spanning an entire galaxy worth of people and planets they live in is with how thin authorities may be spread sometimes. Frequent issues on far sectors from the core worlds of each empire and major factions are slavers, pirate factions, and corrupt organizations staking claims illegally at worlds among many issues…" Ford explains

"Sounds like paradise." James sarcastically quips at the state of those worlds. "I can't blame your people for not being able to perfectly handle those problems, however. The sheer scale of this is overwhelming."

"Not like it's all that different here, James, considering how the CDF still has trouble managing its authorities…" Aldo adds.

"True- these still happen in Lylat, except we're far from anything in that scale." Sully says.

"That's the part where I say this happens in a galaxy-wide network that affects—and is affected by—all parties involved, from trading bureaus to military projects." The commander says. "However, with the galaxy's further and more dangerous reaches being inhospitable at the current moment, it would be wiser to stay in the known sectors of space rather than dealing with the unknown, especially considering criminals and other dangerous individuals seek refuge in these sectors—where less people and even less authorities exist."

"That said, your sector of space is hospitable and relatively rich in resources, yet unexploited. What do you think will happen when some ruthless and influential individual sets his eyes towards this galaxy?"

"Wait a minute… Are you saying someone might try conquering Corneria? We wouldn't have been given a chance to negotiate peace or call for proper help!" Krystal exclaims in realization.

"They're opportunists like any other, except those have god-like egos and some military strength. Their morals aren't above scorching a world like yours to ashes—and a whole unexplored galaxy might just be enough to create a 'gold rush' towards setting foot and staking claims on the hospitable and richer worlds." The commander replies.

"It's pure profit for those who stake claims first… Or take it from the owners." Markus states. "To make things worse, some of those individuals have considerable influence at major factions. If need be, they can wipe you off the maps, the records, and existence."

"What!?" Krystal exclaims in outrage. "Are they all insane? These are basically war criminals—how can people like these go unchecked by authorities?"

"If anything, it's the influence of families or rich corporations, bribing the authorities, blackmailing, the full package you'd expect to find on your corrupt individual, only these are deranged lunatics with power and drive to try and take a planet or a system." Markus says.

"So as long as we are here…" James begins.

"…you'll be no more than a hindrance in their plans." Ford completes James' statement. "And the galaxy would never hear about the budding civilization that was wiped out by some egomaniac."

"Ugh… What the hell are they thinking?! They can't just storm into our worlds and take everything as theirs—they just can't do that..!" Krystal outrages. "I… I don't even know what to say about this, do they think they're _gods_ or something?! This is _insulting_! Nngh!—"

She closes her eyes and gives a long sigh, with an expression of angst and clenching her fists, only to see that the unknowing bypassers are all staring at her vocal reaction.

"I… I'm sorry… I don't know what came over me. Please proceed." Krystal's tone changes as she speaks, trying to calm down.

"I understand the reason for your outrage. These people think they are above every law people like us gave their lives to build and reinforce ever since ages past. But for the people I'm talking about… They don't see more in you than being the natives of some backwater star system." Ford says. "The reason I'm here—the reason this whole operation exists here, is that there are people who want to avoid that. Level the playing field, and give you a chance to prove what you're worth preserving. This is everything the Joint Initiative stands for."

"And that's where you come in. We all know you're iconic figures here in Lylat—James himself is held in high regards across the system." Beltino says. "We could send diplomats for this task as we tried not too long ago, but the problem is; there are purists and extremists in Lylat, just as well as there are those who oppose cooperation on their side. But even though you are no rulers or politicians, you have great influence and became legendary in reputation. Especially you, James. You're a proven leader."

"And, you have another advantage to your side; with the fame and prowess you've shown, even your enemies would think twice before attacking you—unlike with just some diplomatic envoy—either out of fear or respect. If those attacks are from Lylat in origin, they will probably refrain from engaging in direct combat with you and your crew; they wouldn't want to be known to take down the heroes of Lylat. Hence the second half of your mission: participate in a diplomatic meeting promoted by the Joint Initiative." Ford finishes.

"A diplomatic meeting?" James questions, raising his hand. "I appreciate that you find us suitable for the task, but even if we're that influent here, does it even mean anything there? I don't know if any of our feats are worth anything there."

"I reckon your concerns. Though, at the Joint Initiative we make sure that all voices can be heard at an equal footing, put things in understandable terms as needed, and more than that, we don't value only what's been done by you, but what you can contribute in the future to us. We have studied your people, and we've found you to be creative, pragmatic, and adaptable. Your kind is not entirely unlike my own. Personally, I feel your people could be a great addition to the Joint Initiative." Ford explains.

"Right, but what about our ship?" Aldo says. "I don't know how things are on your side of things, but I'm pretty sure some ship Lylat makes alone isn't going to hold out very well against the tech you just told us about in case of an attack."

"A ship can be arranged. I'm glad you asked about it as well. During an age of naval warfare in my homeworld, there was an arms race between the nations to build the largest, strongest and most advanced battleship our world had yet to see. In that time, dreadnought-class warships and capital battleships would represent all of a nation's strengths at their best in economy, technology, and military." Ford says. "This was not only an arms race but also a way to show each nation's symbol of their power, a true flagship not just for their fleet but for their nation's influence. And it seems some things are well shared across species, seeing how the history of factions the Joint Initiative has met so far are not all that different in similar contexts. That said…"

"Ah, about that… Space Dynamics, our manufacturer for most advanced and experimental hardware, has gotten in contact with the Science Division of the CDF and through us, with the Initiative. All three organizations collaborated in the construction of the CCV Endurance II… I'm proud to say it's the most advanced warship that we have ever built." Beltino comments. "Using the latest in military technology advancements from the CDF, the newest engine configurations developed along Space Dynamics, and the Dust-enhanced systems from the Initiative, the new CCV Endurance has enough strength to equal at least three of its kind produced normally in Lylat. It's not only a great warship but also a symbol of what we can accomplish should we work together."

"As for the crew, we have gathered CDF officials who have been in battles by your side, who were interested in joining the Initiative—or rather, your team." Ford continues. "Each and every one of them has been especially trained to know basic workings of Dust and other useful Endless technology, and they're sworn with you as their leader. They're good soldiers, and I feel they'll be in good hands with your team."

"So… That is your mission. First, a diplomatic meeting for proper introduction, and then you shall investigate any suspicious activity and the attack sites during the way to the gateway, and see if you can pinpoint the attackers that have been raiding ships around our territory at the other side of our gateway. If you do accept it, you'll also be granted a position as a Joint Initiative member and representative." Ford concludes. "Regardless you accept the mission or not, the crew and the ship are yours to handle. Take it as a vote of trust from the Initiative."

"It will certainly be a shock to Lylat, at least, to know of the existence of an entirely new galaxy full of people out there… Not to mention, we may still have quite a bit to catch up in technology. I have the feeling that might be an issue." Krystal says, contemplating the possibilities and what ifs that would come from this endeavor.

"For this and many reasons the Joint Initiative is already here. We plan to help introduce representatives into your people as soon as these matters are solved, preferably the best way possible. The same goes for our technology. However, that should only happen if your government is willing to, of course." Ford says. "It may seem like we're imposing those changes, but… I hope you understand why it is so critical that your kind cooperates. I wish circumstances weren't as tense as now, but all I need to know is… What is your answer?"

James looks at his friends. They nod accordingly, clearly motivated to collaborate.

"Commander, we'll gladly take part on this project." James answers, offering a handshake.

"It'll be a pleasure to be working with you and your team on this, James." Markus says, shaking James' hand steadily. "We'll be sure to do our best to have Corneria, and Lylat, kept as important citizens of your sectors."

"We'll get preparations done and will wait for our instructions as soon as possible, Commander." James says.

"Very well. I know this was a lot to take in, but we'll make sure that your decision to cooperate won't go to waste." Ford says. "Dismisse—"

Krystal suddenly gasps, and at the same time an ominous alert klaxon breaks the silence. The lights turn pulsing red, and gun turrets deploy from the ceiling, with a distant explosion, and gunfire being heard shortly after.

"Attention, security breach, level CIC-5. Hostile forces detected. Targets identified: type, infantry; unit description: Craver Attack Drones." A computer voice alerts. "All non-essential personnel, direct to the nearest emergency room, and wait until security escort to outside the complex."

"What the— what's going on?!" Ford quickly activates the information center's intercom.

"Commander, we've got hostile contact—Craver infantry! They're headed straight your way!" A soldier responds, with the sound of rifle fire and ricocheting bullets over the audio.

"What—who's attacking!?" Sully exclaims startled.

"Everybody, watch out!" Krystal exclaims before leaping onto James, pushing him as both of them fall away from a blast at the nearby wall.

The explosion opens a hole through the wall, from which a group with six tall creatures, seemingly cybernetic and insect-like at the same time. Four arms, with claws for hands, tall metallic beams and twisted spikes on their large backs and shoulders, and a single, glowing eye above the mouth with seemingly implanted gas-masks. They were using heavy rifles, and one had what seemed like a light machinegun.

"The hell… How did they get here?!" Ford exclaims while taking cover, before activating his earpiece communicator. "This is Commander Ford to security teams, requesting immediate backup! Cornerian VIPs endangered; it's the StarFox squadron!"

He proceeds to dodge the crossfire between the security turrets and the attacking squadron, slamming an emergency button on the CIC panel, deploying more cover panels and a weapons lockbox with assault rifles, while he rushes to another cover.

"Take these! Fire at will!" He takes one of the rifles before the rest of the team, beginning to fire back at the attackers.

"Where did they come from!? I thought all entrances were sealed and under guard!" Krystal shouts before firing a few shots and taking cover again.

"I'm not sure, it's possible they infiltrated inside cargo!" Ford answers after firing two rounds of shots. "Security, where's that backup!?" Ford exclaims to the soldiers again over the earpiece, and shoots over the edge of the cover panel.

"Negative on that backup, commander! There are two other assault groups in the base! We need time to regroup!" a voice comes from the communicator.

Ford and the others continue shooting, with the short skirmish proceeding as three of the attackers are killed by the team, Ford and the security turrets.

"We need anything you can spare sent here! The- Everyone, take cover!" Ford exclaims when he spots a drone arming a concussion grenade and throwing it at their way.

A surprisingly strong explosion tosses the group back and knocks some out for a few moments with the shockwave. The turrets however keep functioning and defending the area, killing off some of the invaders before being destroyed.

One of the drones, however, was still alive and walked over to Krystal. Seeing its weapon overheating, the armored creature dropped it with a loud grunt and held Krystal with a claw from the exoskeleton.

"…Organic. Unknown species. Escape attempt unsuccessful." The rough grievous voice states flatly, while a single, golden eye in the suit of armor stared at Krystal, as she tried to force herself out of the claw. "Combat evaluation: weak weaponry, low armor rating. Battle result: enemy defea—"

"Hey, you pile of junk!" James distracts the drone while catching the foe's dropped weapon. "Nice gun you have here!"

A loud, but short-lived shriek is heard as James shoots repeated salvos of fire at the cybernetic abomination. Krystal falls back as the creature releases her, before its dead body hits the ground. The weapon's overheating was seemingly of no concern to James, however, a grunt of pain was heard from him as he cast the weapon aside after the creature was killed.

* * *

A few moments later, the other team members wake up from the concussion grenade.

"Whoa… What happened—Aah!" Sully panics, waking up to see the dead alien right in front of him.

"Agh! Feels like I fell from a cliff…" Aldo groans while getting up. "What was that blast!?"

"Concussion grenade… That one was probably packed with Dust to yield a higher blast radius for the compact charges…" Ford states. "We need to stop them, and fast."

"Hold on—what are we even supposed to be fighting? The security alarms called them 'Cravers'…" Krystal says, approaching the others.

"To put it simply, they're a very old race that behaves like locusts across the stars. Resilient and numerous, they serve 'the Hive' and 'the Queen'. As their moniker suggests, they harvest planetary resources until they deplete a planet, and move on to the next one." Markus explains the nature of the alien attackers. "Their armor can shrug off most conventional weapons, but well-placed shots can get through some thinner parts of their armor and its seams."

"Well, that's just great. And I thought I'd seen enough space bugs for a lifetime. Why are they here though?" James says, rather nervous.

"I don't know. The Hive is unpredictable, maybe they're sending out scouts to look for new worlds to harvest from. To see them getting this far is alarming." Markus says, reloading his weapon. "There's no time to talk about this, though. We need to stop these drones before they cause any more damage."

"Aah, I vote for an escape route, unless your researchers have some sort of heavy weapons or whatever here." Aldo says, looking around trying to find an emergency exit.

"I doubt so. We haven't been bringing any heavy military gear here." Ford comments.

A moment of silence is interrupted by an explosion and a light tremor from far off.

"…I don't like the sound of that." Aldo says.

"They're probably going for the power conduits." Ford states, looking around. "We'll need to reach a security control station before they do, so we can dispatch security drones and activate more turrets to finish them off. Everybody, move out!"

The team departs the area following Markus, but James doesn't seem to be at his best.

"…Dammit!.." James tries to keep a low profile on some visible pain, clutching at his right hand with the left.

"James, are you okay? That didn't sound good." Aldo asks, turning to James.

"I'm alright, Aldo, it's just a bruise. Let's keep going, we need to reach the station." James answers evasively. Krystal, however, doesn't seem to believe, feeling he wasn't completely honest.

"James, you look a bit worried…" She says, stopping with the others, and reaching for his right hand.

"Krystal, don't worry. I'm fine." He answers, holding her hand and trying to shrug off the pain, releasing it shortly after.

However, it only made her only more convinced of the opposite as she saw James' hands with some wounds and burn marks, as well as blood stains left at her outfit's gloves.

"…James!" Krystal's eyes widen as she exclaims in shock.

"Agh… Okay, I'll admit… That overheating weapon burned my hands, and can't feel my arms so well…" James says, with a short grunt of pain. "Ford! What's happening?"

"That's not just the overheating. I'm pretty sure it was a hostile nanite action. The Cravers are probably are using Dust as a safeguard to prevent weapons from being captured in combat and reverse-engineered… What you see there is the result…" Ford states as he activates a scanner from his suit at James' injuries. "The Dust hindered your hand coordination by interfering with your nerve system. You won't be able to shoot properly without some treatment, otherwise you will still have this pain you're probably feeling and impaired aiming."

"Look, I won't just stay back while you throw yourselves at the front line. I can still fight." James rambles.

"If you say so. Just be careful, James. The Cravers are relentless." Ford replies

James marches off with the others as they make their way through the complex.

* * *

Reaching poorly-lit corridor starting at a concrete wall, the team stops and takes cover by nearby crates and the walls.

"This doesn't feel right. That looks like a good place for an ambush." James says.

"It is." Krystal confirms. "Dimly lit, and I can't sense so well through the wall—it's too thick."

"So what should we do? We can't go back, either." Sully asks, concerned.

"I'm going to check it out. Watch my back." Krystal answers, reloading her rifle and continuing towards the dark corridor.

"Uh, Krystal… A-are you sure about that?…" Sully stutters.

"Krystal, are you really gonna do this? I'm pretty sure it's a trap." Aldo warns Krystal, but she doesn't seem to reply.

She stops for a moment, and stares back over her shoulder at Aldo, silently. A quick gaze is given from her eyes at Aldo, but then she looks the other way. Krystal follows into the dark entrance, with the automatic lights attempt to turn on, only to spark and short out rapidly. If there was a good place for a trap at the time, this was it.

It was difficult to see too far in the storage room, with few visible sources of light aside from a few loose cables sparking, and the remaining, dim emergency lights. Some of the consoles at the walls and panels open on the floor still have some lit circuitry on them, presumably with Dust.

 _We need to get out of this place quickly…_ Krystal thinks, taking cover behind a pillar, trying to sense around the room, without a response. _Ford may be right about James' injuries not being serious, but it's too dangerous down here, and James is a weak target in his condition. Those things will probably go for the weakest of us if one falls down. James needs to be treated or taken away, and fast. But I still don't understand—how did they get their scouts here..?_

She hides behind a large steel crate, looking over the corner quickly. Something starts to appear in her senses, though the location is not clear.

… _This place is barely a strategic outpost, but it's well-defended. I can't see how they weren't discovered before—or rather, why they didn't attack before… No matter, I should worry about this later. I have to keep alert._

Krystal shakes off her thoughts when she reaches the middle of the darkened room, taking cover behind a short stack of canisters. Some sparks and electric pops appear from the short-circuiting consoles, but nothing else is to be seen there.

She glances over cover, with nothing seen. After vaulting over the canisters and taking a few more steps, however, she is ambushed by a Craver Drone that falls on front of her, and casts Krystal's rifle away from her. The door of the storage room closes behind her. This conflict had no escape.

The drone looks down at her, with the single glowing eye staring right at her. It steps near to Krystal from where it landed, while two other separate glowing eyes turn to her direction from further in the dark.

Krystal, however, didn't run back to cover. Looking up at the two-meter drone in front of her, she was inadvertently trying to pry into its thoughts and find a weak point, while readying herself for a counter-attack.

"Hmph. I see you're tired of waiting in the dark." Krystal defies the armored being with a defensive stance.

"Organic. Light armor resistance; disarmed. Combat evaluation points towards your failure. You are outnumbered, struggling is pointless. Simply surrender and your death will be quick." The armored creature declares, unlocking a light machinegun with two of its arms.

"Have it your way then… _Take THIS_!"

With lightning-quick speed, Krystal pulls out a short combat blade from a leg holster as she shouts at the creature. With its cutting, high frequency edge, the blade quickly rips through the thin metal on the drone's chest armor seams. Just as quickly, Krystal pulls out the blade from its chest, and lunges with the weapon directly at the foe's face. The alien drone shrieks loudly in agony, and falls on the ground, clutching at its own face as it bleeds out.

"You can think what you want. I'm not going down without a fight." Krystal says as she puts away the blade, retaking a defensive stance and retrieving her rifle from the floor behind her. "You're no different from the Aparoids at all to me. Bring it on!"

The two other aliens growl threateningly, closing on her.

Kineric barriers are briefly visible around the drones as their armors start to glow in Dust patterns, before Krystal rushes back to cover, The two starting salvos of fire from the Craver rifles break the relative silence of the room.

Krystal shoots back at the two Craver drones from behind a container in a few bursts of gunfire. Reloading her weapon once the magazine empties out, she fires some more and hits an explosive container behind one of the drones. However, it doesn't fall dead just yet.

During the fight, after several repeated bursts of fire, her rifle begins to overheat, and the firing chamber jams.

 _Great, now what?... Think, Krystal..._

The two Cravers separate to circle around the sides and flank her. While the odds aren't on Krystal's favor, she looks again at one of the open panels with Dust glowing at them. Krystal realizes she could give them some of their own poison.

 _Wait. The Dust… Maybe I can use that…_

… _Let's see what the Endless' tech can offer._ Krystal nervously thinks, moving behind cover to reach a nearby panel.

Krystal wasn't sure of what would come of this, but she had run out of options at the time. Krystal attempts once again to communicate with the base's Dust systems by opening a floor panel. A simple command was all she needed to send, and hopefully the Dust would understand it;

 _Attack the drones._

She pries open the Dust conduits, with the exposed Dust directly at her hands. Soon the floor around her starts to glow with the Dust's circuit-like patterns, spreading to Krystal's arms in the process. Then, a light pulse is sent through the patterns across the vicinity, and Krystal herself. The Dust systems seem to have understood, given the retained glow on Krystal's arms. She looks at the glowing patterns, and then glances again at the drones on the far side of the area.

 _Okay… Here we go…_

Krystal stands up and rushes out of cover, trailing Dust from her hands as the floor circuitry lit with her steps. Seeing the two Craver drones separate in the corners of the room, Krystal lunges at the air in their direction with both arms. The Dust from the air and floor around her forms up in a bright, gold-colored cluster of wisps that flies rushing towards the two Cravers. As it hits them, the drones are engulfed in Dust, and their suit's vital systems begin to overheat. Lastly, their weapons overload and explode, killing them in the process.

Krystal escapes mostly unscathed, but not entirely stable. She feels exhausted from the exposure to Dust. Slowing down with heavy panting, Krystal takes a moment to recover her breath, and then reaches the emergency unlock lever to exit the room, her hands stopping to glow shortly after. From the obvious noise of gunfire and dying Cravers, the team was waiting in cover, aiming at the door.

* * *

As the door slides open to reveal Krystal as the survivor, James sprints towards her.

"Hey! Krystal, are you alright?—"

He's interrupted by Krystal herself as she holds him back with her hand at arm's length.

"…I-I think I'll be fine. I've also taken care of the drones in the room… The three tried to ambush me…" She says, still imbalanced.

"Wait… three drones? That's impressive." Markus questions, surprised. "These weren't heavy troopers, but still… How could take them all out?"

As Krystal looks at Markus, he can notice that one thing stood out differently on her look; Krystal's eyes. Her eyes were outlined with the same golden pattern from the Dust, contrasting with the light blue irises before the pattern faded. Perhaps she absorbed Dust during the encounter.

"Krystal, did you… Did you come in contact with Dust…?" Now even more intrigued, Ford was surprised upon discovering the Dust patterns on Krystal's eyes, even if for a moment.

Krystal looks at her reflection on a nearby glass panel. She saw the glowing circuitry and the golden color now slowly fading off, and with a gasp, only then Krystal realized what had just happened to her.

* * *

"…It did what!?" Krystal exclaims startled as Ford explains the fact that Dust was retained within her body.

"You said before that it was dangerous to those who used it without care, and I did it in a spur of the moment— I didn't expect this to happen, and we saw what happened when James came in contact with it, look at his burns!" She rapidly exclaims, gesturing towards James' hand injuries. Krystal's discomfort and shock was almost tangible as she realized she had the same nanomachines within her body. "What's going to happen to me…?"

"Calm down, Krystal. The Dust that injured James had been instructed to attack all foreign lifeforms. Instead, at the moment you sent the telepathic command to attack the Cravers – and only them – you channeled the Dust. Perhaps it adhered to the emitter of the command, which in this case, you." Markus explains. "This is not the first time I've heard of this happening. A number of incidents of Dust contact in the past have already been recorded, and not only had a number got out unscathed, but also found benefits in this. Many of those notable Dust Adepts had one thing in common; basic usage of some sort of telepathy, artificial or otherwise. However, precise Dust control is something they spent several months or even a few years to achieve some sort of control..."

"This doesn't explain how she killed these hulks just now." Aldo comments. "If they need a ton of training to just be able to control it, how did she kill them off just with one try?"

"I'm not sure. I don't really know how Dust interacts with lifeforms from this galaxy. I have a feeling that since Cerinians already have innate telepathy and extra-sensory perception, they have better innate capabilities than other beings." Ford says. "But Krystal looks considerably exhausted. I'm certain she wasn't totally prepared for something of that magnitude. Someone else could have fainted or worse while trying that. But, you'll be fine. You don't seem to be showing any of the immediate rejection effects."

"Ah… I understand. I'm sorry— I was just… really concerned. I remembered what happened with James' hands with burns and wounds. I really didn't want the same to happen… within me." Krystal becomes calmer, shakes her head and sighs in relief.

Once again looking at the reflection of her eyes, Krystal drifts away in some thoughts, perplexed by the fact.

"Um, guys, I know this is amazing and all, but save the awe for later. Remember there are still some of these alien freaks around here." Aldo says, interrupting the scene.

"He's right, we better get going." Ford enforces.

"Wait, did anyone else notice something strange?.." Beltino asks to the team, looking around the area.

Of sudden, even the lights start going out. After a few seconds, all of the main lights go out, with little but a few panels and emergency lights online.

"Dammit. There goes the power." Markus states. "This can't be good. If they reached the power room, the chamberlocks to the surface are practically open."

A dim flashlight appears from Markus' rifle.

"Your rifles also have flashlights on the sides. Keep them lit, we're going to need everyone close now." He says.

He looks for an interface panel at the nearby wall, unlocking it with a code and checking the current status.

"Hm… Looks like the low-power mode is still online. We might still be able to get main power back on and put this part of the facility under lockdown."

"Well ain't that nice, keeping them in here with us. So where are we headed now?" Aldo quips, followed by the question.

"No change in plan, still to the security station." Ford states. "From there the power to the base can be restored, and we can trigger the backup turrets. The reserve power room is pretty far from the entrances, so if we're quick enough that way, we can reach it before the Cravers shut down the reserve power and move out."

"Alright, let's get going then." James says.

The group rushes into darkness on the way to the security station.

* * *

The group arrives near the security station. The location is actually another platform built into the walls of the underground superstructure. Even if everything is dark out, for some reason the station is still lit. It's possible to see some of the Initiative workers being held prisoners. Ford looked up at the place with an intel-scope device, seeing the situation and spotting the drones.

"That doesn't sound like what the Cravers do." Ford says about the held prisoners, while putting away his int-scope. "They don't make prisoners… Cravers just kill their targets to extract any usable resources for their hive or spare parts. What are they doing?.."

One of the Craver troopers seems to order one of them to stand up. The prisoner refuses, being is held by large pair of claws from the drone shortly after, and pulled away from the others.

"…What are they doing up there?" Krystal asks.

"I don't know… But if the Cravers are doing it, it's not a good thing…" Ford answers.

Another Craver, this one a hulking creature, is seen nearing the prisoner with some sort of launcher weapon. The first one stands behind the prisoner. As a loud humming is audible even from the team's hiding spot, with an ominous whining sound of the powering device is heard. Shortly after, a gold energy blast is seen hurtling outwards the station. The hostage is instantly vaporized, while the Craver behind is seemingly intact.

"What the hell was that… If they developed a disintegrator weapon with Dust that doesn't affect their own, we're at a real disadvantage here." Ford says. "They will barely need—"

Ford, however, is cut, as he sees the Craver losing balance, while the corpse falls back down off the ledge right after. The Craver was also killed in the process. The one holding the device growls incoherently and violently tosses it at a nearby wall, and walks off-sight again.

"…Figures. They're testing the weapons, even at the expense of their units…" Ford states.

"That's just… ruthless." Krystal says in disgust.

"So they're on a one-way field testing trip, even if it needs to be tested on their own. Not the brightest move." James says.

"It isn't a bad idea when they can replace you at any time. They work as a huge hive, and they only live to serve it. Everything is disposable." Markus says. "At least that's one less to worry about."

"He's the only one up there now. Maybe if we can sneak up, we can take him down and turn on the failsafes." Aldo suggests, pointing at the remaining drone.

"I'll head up there and try seeing if I can help the hostages escape." James says, while unlocking his rifle. "I can't shoot very well now, but I might manage in close quarters. If that Craver comes back, I'll deal with it, but I'll need some help. Aldo, watch my back."

James lowers his stance, with Aldo doing the same, and the two stepping silently up the stairs to the station, using the platform and station walls as cover.

* * *

James slowly approaches the remaining prisoners, in absolute silence. They are imprisoned by kinetic barriers seemingly controlled by a nearby computer.

Despite the stealth approach, the Craver turns to James and shrieks at him, running to his direction with a melee weapon. James quickly reacts and attempts to evade, causing the Craver to hit a wall instead.

The creature charges a second time, and this time James isn't able to evade: he takes a strong push to the wall of the station. The Craver approaches with the weapon giving off electric discharges, and James is still down and stunned. With the enemy approaching fast, he quickly tries reaching for his fallen rifle.

With the spear lifted ready to slash at James, the Craver gets shot at the back, letting out a digitized growl and with some blood dripping, though still standing.

The Craver quickly turned to look at the shooter – Aldo. The precise rifle shot at the armor seams was enough to do some damage, and most importantly, divert the alien's attention. Instead of slashing at James, the Craver seems to let his target off to deal with a higher threat.

Aldo fires another burst, deflected by the Craver's armor this time. Although mostly cybernetic, the alien was giving off signs of rage towards Aldo, uttering words in its 'language' in a series of growls and clicks while taking an offensive stance towards the avian.

"Well, that certainly got your attention…" Aldo's reckless smirk appears paired with his comment.

The Craver reacts by triggering an electric charge on his scimitar. The electric sparks dart across the surface of the long blade, giving it a more menacing look than it already has.

Aldo watches the alien trooper's movements, keeping his distance and aiming at the foe. The drone, instead of advancing and performing a lunge, hits the ceiling with its weapon. The lights of the room overload and explode, while Aldo protects his face from the shrapnel. This is just what the alien needed to make its move; the falchion misses Aldo's arm by little as he spots the incoming blade. A second slice is attempted and evaded, but throws Aldo off balance and causes him to lose grip of his rifle.

The drone sees the opportunity to deal a finishing blow and tries to strike Aldo one more time. The only thing Aldo can think of in the moment is to hold the opponent's arms before it could attack. Aldo is forced backwards, struggling to keep the falchion away from him by holding the drone's arms. The Craver pushes Aldo to fall on his back against a wall, as the avian was still pushing the blade off.

In a last move, Aldo kicks away the Craver with all his strength, and quickly recovers his rifle. The drone is hit by several bullets through his armor seams, and bleeding from the wounds in the exo-skeleton, finally falls backwards and lifeless.

James gives a sigh of relief as Aldo gets up and puts away his rifle.

"Phew… Well, it worked, didn't it?" Aldo says.

"Even though we almost got ourselves killed. Those things really have some sharp senses…" James gets up as well, brushing some of the shattered glass off his outfit.

"I doubt that one will be showing any reflexes at all from here on." The avian counters. "And hey, we're alive and he's dead. I'm not gonna complain."

James attempts to free the prisoners from the energy barrier, as Aldo signals the rest of the team clear.

"Okay, let me just finish here and free the staff." James says, going over the computer console and powering down the barriers, walking out with the released prisoners and Aldo down the stairs to meet the rest of the team.

* * *

Commander Ford powers up the security systems and locks of the base, ensuring the safety of the sections above.

"Commander, thank you for getting the StarFox team to help us." One of the liberated security personnel comes to him. "Sir, there are still people in the safe rooms. The Craver Drones on the base have been eliminated and there were only minor casualties. Any orders for the moment?"

"Go provide proper escort to the surface for injured Lylatian personnel. The other Initiative members should gather on the complex to help repair the damage." Ford commands.

"Roger that." The security officer salutes the commander, and nods.

The surprise attack caused some damage on the surroundings, but it was repairable. Even then, Markus knew that it was just a taste of what would come next. Those Cravers weren't the only threat that was out there; there are things that live in the shadows, and not everything there wants to be shined on…

"Ford, is the base clear of intruders?" James asks, approaching the commander with the others.

"Looks like there are no more reported intruders and the combat alert has been lifted." The commander answers. "We'll just have some procedures to repair the damage and put everything back together. Beltino, you head back to the surface HQ."

"Certainly. I'll head back to the main section." Beltino says, before leaving along the security team. "Keep your guards up, everyone."

"You should also go to the medbay and get the Dust wounds treated, James. After you're all done here, you should gather your belongings and make proper preparations to begin your mission. We'll be expecting more news from you after the launch of the CCV Endurance II." Ford continues. "You'll be headed to the Gateway, and then to a Joint Initiative resupply outpost on the other side for further orders. Good luck on your task—Dismissed."

* * *

"…Sir. We've just gotten reports from our infiltration." An officer says, stepping close to the middle of a dark room, lit only by some monitor screens at the far side.

"Major. What's the situation?" The rather cold reply comes from a man sitting on a chair, wearing a stylish, dark suit fit for businessmen. After speaking, he is seen inputting commands on a holo-keypad from the chair.

"Our infiltrator group has been destroyed. They managed to cause minor damage, but no critical losses to the enemy." The other man replies, handing over a datapad with the reported events in detail. "We may have thrown their attention off by using Craver drone troopers."

"Any involvement of the local military and authorities?"

"Nothing on report, sir."

The suited figure takes a moment before speaking again, sipping on a beverage from his short glass at a low table to the left of the chair.

"And the VIPs?"

"…They survived, but so far we couldn't establish formal contact, sir, and they are already being dispatched on their mission."

"…This operation is taking too long. Our clients are growing impatient and the we are being questioned as of our goals having in mind the best interests—"

"With all respect, mister president…" The officer interrupts the man during his speech, some concern in his voice. "Straightforward attacks will not have their cover element standing for too long. A conflict with the Joint Initiative and its member factions will be inevitable, and soon our military may also start suspecting our actions. Our forces—"

"You are not in position to suggest my judgment is flawed, Major." His superior interrupts him with the response. "We have a mission with our people, and we shall _not_ disappoint our clients either. Send our agent to track them down when they leave for the mission, and see to it that the VIPs are contacted as soon as possible. The plan will proceed at a faster pace with no other changes."

"…yes sir, mister president."


	4. Chapter II: New Venture

**Chapter II: New Venture**

 _10th of Month Seven, 2979 GST – James McCloud's personal apartment._

"…and two days ago, reports were filed regarding an underground explosion and visible smoke that had startled visitors and bypassers at the Corneria Defense Force's headquarters." A TV news host narrates the events, as told by the CDF.

"A CDF representative answered at an interview that an underground power generator exploded beneath their laboratory complex due to a malfunction." The brown vixen continues. "6 workers were killed in the explosion, and 10 injured are in recovery state. In other news, the Katina Memorial Plaza has been elected to be the host of…"

A few days after the briefing, James was at his apartment getting ready for departure. He was packing some of his belongings before heading off to Corneria Spacedock; a customized handgun, a portable deflector, some data pads, and a hologram of James and Krystal together.

James was feeling rather anxious, despite his expertise. This was something entirely different from a regular mission. Many times he had already gone into daring missions, but something of this scope was never in his mind.

 _Alright. I think it's time to go. I'll have to be ready for everything from now on. It's not going to be a small task, but I hope this helps Lylat in the end of the day. There's probably more to this mission than just a search and political talks… Otherwise they wouldn't have called us._

He closes his backpack, following to grab and put on his red scarf.

James takes a contemplating look outwards his room's wide window, seeing Corneria City with its ever-busy vista and skies, as he follows to take his leave from his room, quietly shutting the door.

… _Time for the StarFox team to take flight again._

* * *

James arrived at his car outside of the apartment complex's entrance. Arriving there, he finds Krystal waiting for him.

"Oh, hello James. I was thinking, a mission like this…This may be our biggest venture so far, hmm..?" Krystal says, leaning back at the car. "I still can't believe we're involved in something this important… What a strange universe ours is, huh…" Krystal adds flicking her hair back, making her eyes more visible.

"And I'm sure not many people here would ever have some opportunity like this, Krystal… I guess we're lucky, heh." James says while turning up to the sky, with a distant look. "Let's make the best of this chance."

"Well, maybe not everyone could do any of this…" Krystal says. "But I have the feeling some coincidences helped a bit… Like being a charming fighter ace with a good heart, doing his best for the people he cares about…" She adds, leaning forth on James, and holding him in a soft embrace.

"Yeah, Krystal. Just a tiny bit." James replies with a smile, his tail waving to the sides slowly.

"Hehe… Ah well… Let's head off then, James. We should meet the others at the spaceport soon." Krystal giggles while entering James' car.

"Yeah... Let's go." He replies, entering the vehicle. Shortly after, he drives out from the parking into the streets, onwards to the busier and ever-lively highways of Corneria City on his way to the shuttle port, and from there, to the spacedock.

* * *

A huge complex of connected structures and space buildings was seen circled by countless small craft. The Cornerian Orbital Spacedock was decidedly as busy as the city below, being a hub of communication and transport networks. It was highly popular among travelers from other locations of Lylat; merchants and traders of all kinds, entrepreneurs, and of course, tourists.

Perhaps the lively ambiance of the station had Krystal feeling accordingly. Whatever it was, her face showed some joy as she walked off carefree with James from the transport shuttle docking bay, in the middle of a conversation.

"These places, they have such a unique feel… I haven't spent too long in stations like this, but I just love it... The crowds, the action, and space stretching into infinity just a window away…" Krystal says. "It's kind of inspiring, don't you think?"

"When you say it that way, I guess it actually does make some sense." James answers with a shrug, but in accord. "I've been around space ships like the CCV Endurance and stations ever since I can remember, so they feel more like a first than a second home to me. I don't mind living in my apartment down at Corneria City though. The view down there is nice, though to be honest, what I really missed was living in a ship of my own…" He adds, delving in nostalgia.

"Indeed, though I'm sure that feeling won't last for too long now." Krystal says. "I'm sure you had a hard time by losing the first one, though… You said your father went through a great deal of effort to get it…"

"Yeah, that he did… Losing the ship in the Aparoid conflict came at a high cost… Not just for how much it was worth in credits, but I had lots of good moments on that ship." James says.

"Hey… At least we still have the team this time. I'm sure having all of us together after all this is what matters." Krystal says with a giggle and trying to shrug off the heaviness, caressing the side of his face.

"And besides, today you'll have a new ship you can call home. Now it's ours to carry on, live in and have all-new, good memories in it…" She continues.

"Well… I think you're right, Krystal. We'll sure have quite a bit to remember in it." James says. "I was just feeling like losing the ship was like losing a last memento of my father… like I disappointed him somehow."

"Hey, cheer up… I'm sure your father would be proud of what you've become." Krystal says, giving the other fox a gentle hug.

"I suppose he would… Thank you, Krystal." James says, embracing her with his arms.

"Now come on." Krystal says, letting go of him. "I've no doubt being at the bridge again will make you feel better, James. Just like old times…" She looks at him, smiling.

The couple walks off further into the hallways and skywalks of Corneria Spaceport, onwards to meet the new ship of theirs, and towards the journey they'll set out on.

* * *

Not far off from where the couple of vulpines went by, Aldo and Sully arrived shortly after. Aldo surely had some colorful comments to make about how Sully was to be seen though; the copious amount of equipment made Sully's pace embarrassingly slow.

"So tell me… why are you bringing this load of stuff again?" Aldo asks in a rather embarrassed tone, as he was trying not to look at the clumsy, overburdened young fox besides him. "Seriously, you barely can carry the ones in your hands and you put this heavy thing on your back. Thought you'd be a bit smarter than that." He adds.

"R-really, it's important, I've got months, maybe years worth of research notes here! Log recorders, data pads, research equipment, some notes of mine and a few tools as well, all of which I've been using on the Arwing and other of our stuff since way back then. I won't go anywhere for too long without these, especially now that I can compare what we have with their technology!" Sully replies. "If you'd be so kind though, you could carry these for me, don't you think?" he adds, motioning with the packages on his hands towards Aldo.

"Aah… You're the one who's gonna use these, right?" Aldo asks.

"Yes, but—"

"There, it's all yours then. See ya." Aldo says and walks off, waving back dismissingly.

"Agh! Aldo, get back here!" Sully tries to step up to stay with Aldo before the two reach the CDF wing of the spaceport.

* * *

 _CVN-1614 – CCV Endurance II_

The tail number printed onto the aft of ship shined in a metallic grey paint, with the emblem of the StarFox force.

To some, it may have been no more than a ship; a massive hulk of metal and circuitry welded together, but it was obviously designed to have cosmetic improvements over its predecessor. While featuring new aft-swept wings, it had sleeker shapes and a larger overall size. it was a tremendous piece of work. A few cargo shuttles could be seen entering and leaving the large docking bay of the CCV Endurance II. It would seem those were loading in the last few supplies and cargo for the mission.

James and Krystal look around the surroundings of the airlock skywalk. The busy procedures outside were muffled by the vacuum, at the same time an automated callout sounded over the station's announcer speakers.

" _Cornerian Defense Force Starship – CCV Endurance II; Preparations for departure complete. Undocking process will begin shortly. All related personnel, please board the vessel._ "

Krystal's ears perk up shortly after. She turns around to see Aldo and Sully rushing to meet them.

"See, we're not really all that late, are we?" Sully turns to Aldo. "I told you I wouldn't take too long with the packages."

"Whatever works, I guess." Aldo answers, shrugging. "I see our lovesick couple is already here, too…"

"Oh, here we go again…" Sully sighs; whenever Aldo would start talking about the two as a couple, humor remarks of terrible caliber were to be expected.

Krystal heard his comment, but let him pass by as the avian and Sully get nearby.

A few moments later, she winces and turns to Aldo.

"Hey, Aldo? I just heard what you said about us, and I was thinking…" Krystal begins to say, with a slight smirk.

"What, got something to tell us? 'Cause I know you usually get all flustered when you talk about this stuff and all…" He says, wincing at her.

"Not exactly. It's just… For what it's worth, I never had you pegged as a… well, ' _lone wolf_ ' type of guy, you know? But that's okay, not everyone's lucky in that regard… Oh, and… at least we're a couple…" Krystal winces with her eyes and quips in a suggestive tone, holding James closely by his arm.

Aldo definitely was rather embarrassed as his confident smirk turned into a startled frown after Krystal said that. James and Sully can't help but to laugh a bit at this.

"Hey! I, ah..." Aldo tries to come up with something to get back at the teammate… in failure. "Gah, whatever…"

"All this time passed, and still same old Aldo." James comments, following to chuckle a bit. "Come on guys, we're close to the airlock now."

The group gets to the end of the airlock corridor and reaches the decontamination chamber. A few moments pass with the initial scans, but something triggers a repeated beeping from the security warning of the chamber.

" _Warning, an unknown contaminant has been detected within the body of Mission Specialist Krystal. Cautionary biohazard control measures are advised._ "

For a moment, Krystal is surprised at the callout, but then she remembers the incident back at the Initiative's underground complex.

 _Oh no, it must be seeing the Dust as a hazard… This can't be good…_ She thinks.

"W-wait, hold up, false alarm! She's not contaminated! This is an experimental—ah, medical nanite; you can scan her again for hazardous elements!" Sully says, in a racy statement.

The beeping continues for a few moments, until it stops and another callout from the virtual interface is heard.

" _Acknowledged. No chemical or biological countermeasures required. Compound scan results deem [UNKNOWN CONTAMINANT] non-toxic. Please stand by for boarding clearance from Station Control._ "

… _Aaaand here we go…_ Sully thinks, quickly trying to come up with an excuse for the checkpoint being triggered.

"This is Station Control." a comms panel in the chamber activates "StarFox team, we've had a little bit of a warning triggered in the checkpoint here… Oh. Nevermind, I've just read the logs and apparently the warning was about Ms. Krystal… I'm sorry; some of our scanner databases still aren't updated to her biology. I'm opening an exception here; you are clear to board your vessel. Safe travels."

"Um… Thank you, and my apologies for the interruption." Krystal responds a little awkwardly.

Sully sighs in relief to hear the intercom respond. It would be not simple to excuse themselves from explaining what sort of substance was within Krystal if they were barred and interrogated, and surely it'd put a dent in the Initiative's secrecy. Luckily, the fact Krystal is not from Lylat was a decent cover.

"That was close… There'd be a lot of trouble if they had to interrogate us…" James says.

"I guess we're lucky the VI recognized it's not toxic." Sully replies.

A callout is heard after Sully's comment.

" _Decontamination process complete. Opening airlock…_ "

* * *

The chamber opens to reveal the brand new ship under the StarFox team's colors. The inside look of the CCV Endurance II was distinctively a scheme of steel grey and light tones, with the interiors laid out mainly in practical, yet still stylish shapes, with slopes and curves all in one large hull. The team was met with a wide, spacious deck that held a portion of the crew, in what would seem to be a lobby with a small number of officer stations.

The team members enter their all-new core of operations. All things considered, they were more than right to feel at a place they belong. With new crew and allies, it was certain that StarFox team would have a righteously spectacular return to activity.

Not long after the group walks in, one of the officers of the ship—a husky with short black hair—promptly comes to their meeting.

"So, our shining stars are making a comeback in style, huh? Alex Clay, Flight Lieutenant of the CCV Endurance II. I saw you in action back at Katina in the Venomian offensive, joined up with the Initiative once I heard they would try getting you guys to work in something big. I'll be serving role as the helmsman of the ship." the canine says, greeting James with a handshake. "The crew won't disappoint you; all of us here are honored to take part in this project with you."

"The feeling is mutual." James answers. "We all know what's at stake here; we'll do our best and I'm sure the results will speak for themselves."

"Confident, huh. I like that." Alex replies. "We've all seen how capable you are. A few others of us have fought on Katina as well. Most were on the fleets against the Rebellion years later. The crew knows who's leading them, and even the rookies fresh from the academy have a good deal of respect towards you—they're itching to see the legendary team in action."

During the conversation, a digitized female voice is heard by the team over their earpieces.

"Perhaps I should inform you that I will also take place in the operations."

"And who's this?" James asks.

"I am GF-II A.I.D.A.: the ship's Artificial Intelligence and Digital Assistant." says the voice.

"We keep calling her AIDA for short. Makes it easier for everyone to pronounce." Alex adds.

"My role in this operation is to perform varied tasks, involving crew and resource coordination, maintenance on software and the virtual backend of the ship, as well as minor repairs on physical sections provided they are required." AIDA states.

"Wait, does that mean we won't have ROB with us?" James asks. "Sorry if I sound too attached, but ROB is irreplaceable."

"Actually, Captain, you'll be pleased to hear that is not the case." AIDA answers. "In fact, I think it would be best if you went down to Engineering later. ROB would like to see you once there is time."

"…What do you mean, he would 'like' to see me?" James asks, surprised.

"ROB is… Well, I suggest you to rather meet ROB personally later." AIDA states before closing the channel.

"I'm sure we can cover this later, Captain." Alex says. "You talk to AIDA again once we're done with the undocking and departure procedures. For now, you'd better head to the CIC."

"Indeed, we shouldn't keep them waiting, James." Krystal comments.

"Alright, show us the way, Lieutenant." James says in accord.

* * *

After taking an elevator from the crew deck and walking through some of the ship's hallways, James and his team were met with salutes in the command room; with a diverse Lylatian crew, the _CCV Endurance II_ 's combat information center was outfitted with several viewscreens and AR monitors at the walls; additionally, holoprojectors gave the room a distinct dark blue mood. The officer stations were placed in an arrow layout, all facing towards the fore of the ship.

"Welcome to the new command center of the CCV Endurance, Captain." Alex says. "Might as well get comfortable at your officer stations. We'll be departing soon."

"Huh, it's quite larger than the original's bridge." James comments on the sizeable area. "Seems like we've got more people at the command center, too."

"With a larger ship there's the need for more officer stations to monitor and manage what's happening." Alex explains. "AIDA might help, but that doesn't mean it can handle all systems by herself. Most people don't think it should anyway…" He mutters for a second, before continuing. "I'm sure you'll get used to it though."

"Officers manage functions such as navigation, engine control, weapons targeting, drone launching and fighter craft management. My interface handles the power supply for the ship systems, and other functions which include, but are not limited to communications, onboard transport and security feed." AIDA continues. "If granted permissions, I can also personally take full control of the helm, drones, vital subsystems and weapons systems in the event of a critical crew-related emergency."

"Basically AIDA makes sure the ship is in its best conditions on the run, and if something happens, she'll make sure the ship will still fly and keep the crew safe." Alex concludes. "Here's hoping it doesn't come down to that."

"…Eh, I'm not sure if I feel too comfortable with an AI in charge of the ship. Are you sure this is safe?" Aldo comments.

"You're definitely not the first to feel that way, though I don't think we can just dismantle the AI core because someone doesn't like it—that would probably get us all fired." Alex replies. "But hey, it's part of the job, and we haven't seen anyone get spaced by the AI or anything like that."

During the conversation, a callout from the spaceport control is heard.

"Lieutenant Clay of starship CCV Endurance II, this is Corneria Spacedock Control. Your ship is cleared to departure. Releasing docking clamps now…"

"Acknowledged. We're on our way." He answers.

"I think it's time you sit back and enjoy the ride, Captain. I'll be on the helm if you need anything." Alex says.

"Okay. Thanks for the welcoming, Alex." James answers. "Now guys, to your stations. It's finally time to launch."

The team members take to their seats in the main officer stations, as Alex takes the helm. The metallic sounds from the large docking clamps being released resonate across the ship, while the large craft slowly drifts from the area, finally being clear of the station's docking bay.

"All clear, powering main engines." Alex announces as he engages the thrusters.

The light hum of the engines turning the ship away from the station grows into a powerful roar as the ship accelerates away from the spacedock into the void. Shining with the reflected sunlight, the ship speeds outwards into the void, bearing the StarFox emblem on its tail.

"Quite the ride we got here now, eh James?" Aldo turns to James, smiling enthusiastically.

"That's just half of it." Alex glances back and says.

"AIDA," he calls "begin warp drive activation. Destination; Sector 4."

"Affirmative. Entering warp in fifteen seconds."

"We're heading to the Gateway, guys. I'm sure you'll be impressed." Alex tells the team.

"This is Engineering! Deflectors ready and core stable. All systems green." A callout is heard.

"All systems check!" Clay states. "Entering warp…"

"Warp core activated." AIDA announces.

"…Now!" Clay announces.

The engines' roar turns mute for a moment, as an energy pulse rushes along the ship's surroundings in a bubble, from the front of its hull to the aft, launching the craft away with a blast into warp speed.

* * *

"That… was amazing!" Sully exclaims in excitement. "Look at those readings! I've seen the experimental warp devices from the fleet before, but they had to be used in short bursts as the cores weren't able to stabilize the warp fields for too long!" He says in awe, quickly eyeing the panels and displays from his officer station.

"Heh... Deflectors stabilized, warp core running smoothly, no abnormalities found onboard." Alex says, inputting some commands on the helm terminal. "Pretty smooth first flight on this one. We'll be arriving at the marker soon, Captain." He adds, turning to James.

"Sounds good, let me know about anything else we might need to do." James replies. "Oh and also, I'll be leaving the CIC for a while: I guess I'll be taking a tour around the ship. Be sure to call when I'm needed over here, Alex." He adds, getting up from his chair.

"I want to go too! I have to see more of this ship!" Sully says as he hops from his officer station, wagging his tail in enthusiasm.

"Sure, you can tag along, Sully." James says. "Aldo, Krystal, any of you are coming?"

"Nah, I'll just be sitting here for a while. Not really into tours, I can check the ship's map if I get lost." Aldo answers, leaning back at his chair and looking out the CIC's main viewscreens into space.

"Actually, James, I'll be staying too. I'll be talking to AIDA here in the meantime. You two can go ahead." Krystal says.

"Okay then. I guess I'll meet you guys in a bit." James says.

James and Sully enter the lift from the CIC and start to head down into the other levels of the ship.

"Hm, I remembered something." James says.

"Oh? What is it?" Sully asks.

"AIDA. Alex said you can take full control of the ship if you're allowed to." James states.

"That is correct." AIDA replies.

"He suggested the crew doesn't trust you entirely for that purpose…" James continues. "It… isn't going to become a problem, is it?"

"As you know, Captain, AIs can have personality, individual thought, and free will, provided they are advanced enough. Trusting an AI such as myself into full control of the ship would feel the same as trusting your safety to one you do not fully know." AIDA states. "It is only natural organics fear what they do not know. But being both a crew and Joint Initiative member, I am not only encouraged but compelled to comply with the wishes of the crew and leading staff."

"So you don't have anything against being barred from your full potential all the time?" Sully questions. "That seems kinda forced."

"This is not the case, Captian. I am not being bound by limitations that would affect my awareness and personality. I simply have limited control over the ship unless specific conditions are met. I am aware the crew does not fully trust me as of yet, but I cannot judge them for the fear of AIs." AIDA says.

James and Sully stay silent for a moment, eyeing one another sternly.

"You should not preoccupy yourself with this matter though, Captain. I am still a member of the Initiative and your crew. My peers may not entrust the full control of the ship, but I seek to meet the expectations of my superiors in first place." AIDA says. "As for the crew, I am sure they will learn not to fear, in due time."

The elevator chirps to signal arrival at the Crew Deck.

"I suppose this would be a good place to start your survey." AIDA states.

"Oh- Yeah, uh… Let us begin the tour then!" Sully answers, still wandering in thoughts.

"Ah yes. Carry on, AIDA." James says.

* * *

Leaving the elevator, James and Sully step into the crew deck. Not as large as the main hall, it still quite lively. The noisy ambiance of consoles and equipment blended with the chatter of the officers and the rest of the crew filled this area of the ship.

"This is the Crew Deck. Most of the crew can be found here during intermission periods of their tasks. The room we are currently in is one of the several multipurpose rooms, where officers can report their assignments to the chain of command or simply engage in a social environment." AIDA explains.

"Huh, I see. So it's basically the 'mess hall' from most CDF ships and other vessels." Sully says.

"That is a way to see it." AIDA says. "It is also in this level where most of the crew quarters are located."

During the conversation as James and Sully walk through the ship, James accidentally walks into one of the crewmembers of the ship.

"Hey! Watch where you're going—Oh! Captain McCloud!" The officer complains, though stepping back after noticing who he ran into. "I'm sorry, where are my manners… I can't believe it's really you."

"It's fine; those things happen. I'm just touring the ship, so I'm a bit distracted." James replies.

"I understand—I hope you find everything in order. I guess I was lucky to see you here and now, though!" The crewmember replies.

"What do you mean?" Sully asks.

"A few guys and I made a bet that the one James McCloud would be actually captaining the ship rather than someone with a similar name. You just made me win a bet, heh." He says with a chuckle. "Sean's gonna soil himself once he hears he owes me a month of drinks… Anyway, I'll be going to my quarters now, have a good day, Captain."

"Speaking of which—AIDA, in which part of the crew deck are our quarters located?" James speaks up after the crewmember walks away.

"The head officer quarters are located in a separate deck rather than in the crew deck; the three quarters have been customized to accommodate you adequately to your preferences."

"Hold on a second, you said three rooms? But there's four of us—"

"Captain, need I remind you about your relation with…"

James' eyes widen a bit as he realizes AIDA meant him and Krystal, followed by a slightly startled face and a bit of blushing from him.

"I'm sorry… I assume you would rather have your relationship kept as a private matter?" AIDA states.

"Well ah, if it were that easy… It's not really a secret or anything, and it gets pretty obvious at times, but…" James answers awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

"I see. I recommend proceeding to the other levels of the ship. There are other sections you might want to see." AIDA says.

James and Sully go further into the ship, looking around, with some of the crew greeting the foxes with a salute on their way.

* * *

"…so the main fusion core provides power to the essential ship systems, while there's a separate singularity core for the warp drive and barriers, is that right?" Sully reviews his findings after leaving an elevator, entering Engineering Deck.

"Precisely. The fusion core also powers the atmospheric and impulse engines, while our singularity core—known as the Kugelblitz drive—is equipped with Dust-enhanced shielding systems that stabilize the warp bubble and redirect incoming radiation from it, ensuring safety of the ship crew and that the systems are fully operational." AIDA continues.

"That's impressive, AIDA. I think I remember something said that one of the reasons the Corneria Science Academy had trouble getting stable, long range warp travel to work was to solve the black-body radiation income from the warp effects, and the antimatter reaction core as power source was inefficient and expensive for that, or so I heard." James comments. "They could limit it to small craft like survey probes, and during the Aparoid conflict, ship warp drive refits were kind of a desperate measure made hastily. I remember a few cases of light radiation sickness being reported at some ship crews."

"Provided advanced shielding is in place, safety and functionality are ensured by stabilization of the spacecraft in warp. That is achieved through the use of both the shielding and hull plating that is protected from vacuum fluctuations in the quantization field." AIDA explains. "This technique is known for the past centuries for Joint Initiative-participant races as the Casimir Effect, which helped most species achieve space exploration."

"Hmm… I'll have to gather more info about this later, those technologies are amazing!" Sully comments in excitement. "It'd be really useful in my research into the Arwing prototype jump drive."

"I will arrange some insights and research notes into it." AIDA states.

"AIDA, I just remembered you mentioned ROB before. Since we're already here on Engineering, where could we meet him?" James asks.

"ROB's physical unit is in the Robotics Lab. It is not far from here. I will mark the position on your hand terminal's map." AIDA states.

James' hand terminal displays a holographic map guiding through the corridors. As James and Sully follow, the short walk among the corridors of the ship reveals few things of special interest, aside from the usual conduit pipes and coolant tubes at the walls along the path.

The pair arrives the room with a relatively small officer count, not more than a handful scientists and a security officer. Mainly what was to be seen there was a workshop with a disassembled maintenance drone, possibly for repairs, as well as countless tools and gadgets. The only thing out of the usual was the couple containers of combat drones, and three advanced android assembly capsules.

"One moment, let me just… Oh, Captain James! I'm honored to be able to meet you personally, sir." A young-adult science officer was working on his terminal, but then looks up to see James, and excitedly salutes the captain properly. He was also a Cornerian fox, it would seem.

"Heh, 'at ease'. No need to be all formal with me, I like treating all of my crew at the same level." James says.

"Ah, I see—I'm just surprised you came down here at Engineering. This is our general workshop—also our Robotics Lab, as I'm sure you could notice." The officer gestures back to the rest of the room. "I'm Simon Green, experimental technology and Dust specialist. I got selected for the crew off the Science Division's Division Omega—I'm sure you've been there, haven't you?"

"We went to Division Omega for our briefing and proper introductions to the Initiative, yes. We had a run in with those Craver Drone Troopers though." James says, commenting about the fight. "Those things are damn nasty."

"Ah, I see. I actually was stationed at Division Omega before I got the offer to be here—Lucky break for me, huh?" Simon says. "I'm sure you were able to help out flawlessly though; I've heard the stories of you in action, seems like casualties were kept to a minimum. I heard Aldo managed to take down one of the troopers in close quarters alongside you!"

"Well, you could say that, yeah. I'm more than glad to help someone in need, so if you or the rest of the crew ever need something directly from me, just be sure to let me know… Though, keep an eye out for Aldo if he ever asks you for a favor, _especially_ if he says he's going to pay you later for it. I think he's better at dodging debts than gunfire." James says in a mocking tone.

"Nah, I'm sure he wouldn't do that to the crew… Well, I guess, anyway." Simon comments. "A-anyway, I assume you're here to meet ROB! Am I right?"

"That's right. I have the feeling he's gotten some upgrades as well…" James replies.

"Heh, you'll be happy to see ROB is better than ever." He says. "Hey guys, power on capsule 01; it's time to bring ROB64 online."

The other technicians pause their tasks and move towards the control terminals near the assembly capsules. As the keypad input tones sound across the tech lab, the capsule activates and depressurizes. After the small bursts of air, the fully open capsule now reveals a distinguishable android figure, painted out in steel-grey and gold details.

Its gold visor starts to glow, as ROB steps out of the capsule and starts getting bearings of the environment.

"Processing system fully operational. Main data storage at nominal state. AI core under optimal parameters. ROB64, reporting online." ROB announces.

ROB stops for a moment, looking down at the feet, then upwards at the captain's face after he turns towards James.

"Ah, Captain. It is a pleasure to be meeting you again." ROB greets James with a handshake. "I trust the new ship and crew are in agreeable conditions."

"Heh, it's been a while, ROB." James taps ROB's shoulder pad. "Good to see you're still the same."

"And 'better than ever', as it might be proper to add. As you might see, little has been changed on my visual appearance for familiarity, though my internal systems went through an overhaul to make me more… 'life-like' perhaps." ROB comments.

"I noticed. Your speech sounds way more fluid and natural." James replies.

"My systems are now capable of providing more convincing behavior patterns as seen in organics... with certain caveats regarding facial expressions and body language, as you can see." ROB answers, gesturing to his own 'face'.

"Still, the old ROB everyone liked around is back! Glad to see you're still sticking around with us, ROB." Sully says as he steps near.

"I thank you both for the reception into activity. Well then, shall we proceed with our duties? If I'm correctly informed, you were both taking a tour through the ship—"

ROB is cut off by a voice callout over the room's speakers.

"Alex to Captain, we're almost at the Gateway Sector." Alex says over the callout. "You should head back here with Sully. And it seems like ROB is already back online… feel free to bring him as well."

"Alright Alex, thanks for the heads-up." James speaks at his communicator.

"Oh, we'll be getting through the gateway! Let's go, I have to see this!" Sully says with hearty enthusiasm.

James nods at ROB and sleepy, and the three start heading out towards the corridor, leaving the lab behind.

* * *

James, ROB and Sully drop by the CIC again. The holographic navigation panels above the officer stations and maps in the surroundings pan to focus the target location as they rapidly approach.

"Leaving warp in eighteen seconds, Captain." Alex announces.

"Oh, how was it, James?" Krystal looks back to see the vulpine. "I see ROB is already back online... seems like he got a renewed look!" She says, smiling at the sight of the familiar "face".

"I am pleased to see you again as well, Krystal." ROB states.

"Alright guys, we've arrived. The Joint Initiative's Intergalactic Gateway." Alex interrupts the talk.

A whirring noise is heard echoing through the ship as its warp drive disengages, dropping the craft out of warp speed with an energy burst seen beyond the aft of the ship from the dissipating warp field. From the ship, the team can see an impressively large construction, resembling two large deflector dishes facing each other, with four pylons on their backs, while energy discharges occasionally jolt off to each other.

A transmission notification is heard across the CIC, until Alex opens communications.

"Cornerian Defense Force Warship, CCV Endurance II, this is Gateway Omega traffic control. We've been informed of your mission and we are ready to activate the spatial distortion generators; stand by for clearance." The message is heard.

"Affirmative, standing by at marker." Alex acknowledges the chatter.

The CCV Endurance comes to a halt while the Gateway powers up. A strong blue light is seen from the pylons as they progressively energize. Not long after, a particle field starts forming in between the two dishes, with the occasional energy discharge reaching its center as the particles are drawn into it.

After a few moments the particles in the center form an energy sphere that progressively becomes brighter as it grows. The space around the sphere begins to slightly distort, with the particles between the constructs quickly being drawn in and orbiting the sphere at high velocities.

The distortion intensifies, with the space just at the edge of the sphere bending. Its white color fades into darkness, with only the bright particles sustaining a barely visible glowing border around the sphere. Lastly, a pulse of energy is sent from both dishes of the Gateway, distorting a considerable space around the sphere between both of its dishes.

The wormhole seems to stabilize at this point, and at the same time, the transit control reports the situation:

"Spatial distortion under control, all parameters green. Gateway stabilized. CCV Endurance II; cleared for transit."

The clearance is announced and once again the thrusters of the large starship fire up to throttle it forward. Flying towards the Gateway, the sight ahead of the ship becomes distorted as it closes into the wormhole, skewing anything in the space behind the wormhole from discernible form.

As they traverse the anomaly, the ship endures a few small tremors, as hull resonances from the transit could be even heard across the interior of the starship. The team is both startled and anxious, as the turbulence continues for a short while.

The starship then reaches the other end of wormhole, as the ship accelerates beyond an identical construction to the one they just left, finally giving them the sight of an entirely new galaxy. The galaxy that was once home of the mysterious Endless Empire, and now to the strange new civilizations Lylat would meet.

* * *

"…Agent One here. Reporting positive on transit as expected… I'm awaiting further orders." A female voice says.

"Good. You know your mission; keep a low profile and observe the targets and what they are looking for." The agent's superior orders. "If they detect your presence, lethal force is not authorized—and remember; you're on your own. Be aware that should they capture you, it'll mean our entire operation is jeopardized."

"Sir… Are you sure about this..? I feel it's still too early for us to intercept or contact the—"

"I think your superiors already informed you as to the critical importance of the infiltration operations, especially now that we need to observe these high-value targets, Agent." The man says, interrupting the agent. "Once we can figure out what are the Initiative's intentions, we may approach them formally."

"But is this really what our clients need? There are other ways we could approach this matter; how are you so sure there's no other way around—"

"Agent One, if you think you're not capable or willing to take place in the taskforce, it is not our concern, but at this point, you should already know more than you needed if you ever planned to abstain from these operations." The man cuts the agent again, in a cold statement. "And remember, it doesn't matter who you are and how close you are to the President, you're sworn as one of us, and if your loyalty to our cause is questionable, you'll either need to keep silence, or we will have to _make sure_ you don't let anything out."

"…"

"I thought we already had discussed our goals before. Now, are we clear?"

"…Yes sir. I will keep a low profile and follow the targets to report findings ASAP. Commencing radio silence…"

* * *

Trailing some particles from the wormhole behind the spacecraft, the CCV Endurance II reaches the marker past the Gateway they just left. The StarFox team members weren't sure of their feeling: awe, fear, anxiety, or just shock from the traversing itself, but they knew that now they had taken the first step on their mission. Exhilarated at the traversing, Alex seems to have felt a certain adrenaline rush from the transit:

"Well now wasn't _THAT_ a spectacular entrance. Should have known simulations never do proper justice to the real deal… Anyway, welcome to Neutral Space." He says, spinning back his chair. "Are you guys okay back there? I hope none of you passed out—I'm not gonna carry anyone to the medbay."

"Ah... Still awake here. Looks like Sully hasn't passed out yet either. Going through the portal seems like a big deal, huh…" Aldo answers Alex, shaking his head a little.

"I think I'm alright, minor headache… Gah, at least it's not like the high-G trainings for pilots back at the start of the space age…" Sully says in response, his hands against his head in some discomfort.

"That was intense… is this part of the transit's effects?" James asks, rubbing the left hand on his face as he gets up.

"To this date many unusual effects have been observed on organics during post-wormhole – and in this case – gateway transit events." ROB comments. "The occurrence of energy fluctuations such as the one we just have experienced is not uncommon. However, there is no consistent data proving those can cause effects more serious than some physical weariness, slight psychological distress, or temporary disorientation."

"So, no need to worry about any dizziness or something like that. It's all normal for first-time travelers. If anything feels wrong, we have the medbay." Alex says.

"Alright. It sounds like Aldo and I are okay, and it doesn't look like Sully needs to go there either." James says, before turning to Krystal's station. "And Krystal?.."

"...Krystal?"

Somewhat surprisingly, Krystal is not to be found on her station; she is leaning on the guard railing at the front end of the CIC instead, gazing into space as shown by the viewscreens.

"Don't worry, James. I'm alright." Krystal replies, looking back over her shoulder while smiling at James.

"I think the only odd thing I felt during the traversing… was something familiar." She says, looking back out into the countless stars ahead.

"What do you mean?" James asks.

"It's strange; when we were passing through the gateway, I… Was reminded of home. Cerinia, that is…" Krystal continues stargazing, lost in her thoughts. "I don't know why that would happen right now. And it wasn't like being homesick... It's hard to describe…"

"Heh, it's so odd…" She chuckles and blushes slightly for a moment. "Sorry, I think I'm getting lost on that _déjà vu_ there… But I'm fine, thank you for asking."

"Maybe it's the Dust within you right now?.. After all, it came from this galaxy, didn't it?" James says, approaching her and leaning on the guard rail by her side.

"Maybe so…" Krystal shrugs, uncertain of what she was feeling. "Maybe it's just the Dust getting too much on my mind."

Krystal leans on James after speaking. He holds her in his arms, slightly surprised.

"The others are still here, you know…" James says with a slightly uncomfortable smile, still holding her.

"Don't worry about that, James…" Krystal says, careless.

James was a bit embarrassed, being in a display of affection right in front of his peers. But he still was happy to have Krystal with him.

As the vulpines held each other close, James noticed something unusual. Holding Krystal at his embrace, he sees Krystal's nape barely covered by her hair. Light pulsed a few times with Dust patterns in her neck, showing through her fur and skin.

"...Krystal, do you feel alright?" James' expression of happiness changes to a slightly concerned one as he lets Krystal slip from his embrace.

"Hm? James, I'm feeling okay… Is something wrong?" She looks at James with a puzzled look on her face, only to James' increasing worry, as her eyes at the time had the glowing Dust pattern within the irises, pulsing slowly and rotating, as if gears in a clock, fading off over time.

"…James?"

* * *

Later that day, Krystal had been taken down to medical bay upon the 'overgrowth' of the nanomachines. James was pacing around the laboratory whilst Krystal was enduring a series of scans inside a medical capsule.

"Anomalous Dust activity scan completed." AIDA calls out, unlocking the pressurized medical capsule afterwards. Krystal steps out of the capsule with a confused look; the active Dust inside her body was giving strange visual sign, but she didn't feel any kind of stress whatsoever – if anything at all.

Simon gives a few commands into the nearby terminal before transferring its data to a mobile datapad on his hands. Looking visibly tired, he yawns. It seems he had been recently woken up from his sleep.

"Aah… I know I'm the Dust technology specialist in this ship but, what kind of timing..." he says, rubbing his right hand on his eyes and shaking his head.

"Huh… Whoa, what's this?.." Simon's ears perk up, and his eyelids rise as his attention is caught by the datapad while reading the data.

"…Alright, from what it seems, I'll have to go over two things with you, Krystal." Simon says, as he flips the datapad around so the other two can see its content.

"After the incident at Division Omega, Krystal's innate ESP abilities apparently made Dust integrate to her neural system at a faster speed than other accidental Dust exposures." He says.

"It's quite a surprise it even adhered to her nerve system at all." Simon continues, showing another scan. "The scan data shows Krystal can even have improved senses, reaction time, and may be able to perform electronics handling via Dust control with some training and proper instruction. I don't see any obvious negative effects right now… Well, in theory."

"…'in theory'?" James asks, arms crossed.

"It would require some training with Dust to fully assess her potential abilities. Medical and service records say Dust-exposed individuals hold superior abilities and some unique powers compared to most people, despite some seemingly experiencing only discreet improvements in their own skills." Simon explains.

"Hm… And if that applies to me, then I'll need to pass through said tests and Dust training, I see. While I don't know how much I'm capable of yet, I have to admit enhanced abilities would be useful." Krystal says.

"Hold up though; here's the second thing I need you to keep in mind." Simon cuts in. "Due to the fast development of Dust in your nerve system, it is quickly spreading to other organs and tissue as well."

"What happens after that?" She asks.

"Dust exposures – both of intentional or accidental causes – are unpredictable when it comes to results. We still do not fully understand how the process works with each individual, but we know that if it does not prove itself as a hazard, the most likely occurrence is that it will not give results." AIDA says through the nearby interface. "Special cases might encounter benefits from this element, and others may find it to be, in a manner of speaking, a proverbial 'double-edged sword' power."

"So what you're saying is… Some collateral effects may happen from the Dust within me…" Krystal says while looking down at both of her hands.

"The current spread rate shows that in less than a month your entire nerve system and most tissues will be integrated to Dust. This can become an asset, but as AIDA said, it can also cause problems if collateral effects happen." The young technician explains. "Higher psychological stress will progressively make powers harder to control, at the same time excessive usage of your powers will drain your physical energies considerably."

"Push the limits further, and you'll put your physical self under heavy stress and pain. And if you don't stop even so far…" Simon continues, in a concerned tone.

"According to previous studies into Dust-augmentation and other grafts with this technology, there is a 32.7% chance that Dust Adepts might suffer nerve system stress damage due to endurance of intense Dust ability use." AIDA states. "There are also reported cases of physical rejection to the Dust systems after some time in the individual, though the causes of the latter are unknown…"

Krystal looks up again eyeing Simon, then James, progressively more worried as she listens to AIDA and Simon. She leans back on a wall next to a window, lost in thought about possible side effects.

She'd have to make a decision here. Whether Krystal would find some way to control the Dust or seek for some manner of removing it was still to be seen, but what concerned her most were the risks involved with the nanomachines. To have a small concentration would pose lesser risks if any, but soon her body would be overrun with those.

"I… Alright then… Simon, if you could find the time later, please begin the procedures to test and further train me on Dust usage… " Krystal says with a sigh, looking into space over her shoulder, out the observation window of the medical lab.

"Ah… Will do, ma'am. I'll get back to you once I've arranged some proper training materials and tests on the Dust." Simon answers.

After Simon walks off the medical room, James steps close to Krystal, holding her hands.

"James… I'll admit, I'm a bit worried about what will happen next…" Krystal says, sinking into thoughts of the risks in the newfound abilities.

James embraces her reassuringly, caressing the back of her head while holding her gently.

"Krystal… I'm sure you'll be fine. I know it sounds risky now, but you're not just anyone." He says, holding her closely.

He pitches her head up by her muzzle with a gentle touch of his hand, looking into her eyes.

"I know that you'll be able to get through this, Krystal. So don't let it become a hurdle in your way. And from where I see it, you can very well make this into something useful for all of us." He continues.

"Thank you… That's flattering of yours to say. It's just… I think this is all too much at once. Everything with the Joint Initiative, the new crew and ship, and the Dust… I'll need some time to collect my thoughts about this…" Krystal says, resting her head onto James. "I'm happy that you're always so nice to me, though…"

The two continue holding each other for a few moments, before letting go.

"Crew notice: We are approaching Alpha Gateway's far side checkpoint. Captain McCloud, please report to the CIC."AIDA announces throughout the ship intercom panels.

Krystal lets out a short sigh of relief, then smiles at James, still thoughtful about the consequences of the Dust in her, but now less worried and less overwhelmed.

"Well… I guess we should head there now. Thanks again… I think all I need is some rest once the day is over." She says, holding his left hand with both of her own.

James responds only with a nod and a smile, the both walking off the medbay, hands held.

* * *

"Ah, they're back."

Aldo spins his chair to face the pair entering the CIC while talking to Sully.

"Hey, looks like you're fine, but still, the bright pattern that was on you… What the heck was that all about?" Sully asks, looking at Krystal's glowing markings in her eyes.

"Well… Apparently the Dust _really_ seems to have gotten along well with my body… It's won't be long now until most of my systems are integrated to the nanomachines." She answers, holding her hands down together. "Nothing feels quite different just yet, so I'm not sure what can happen next, but I don't feel any disturbances…"

"Oh… That sounds a bit dangerous, though." Sully replies. "Will you be okay?"

"I'm not too sure if it's any danger… I'm told it may enable me to amplify my abilities with proper training. Though what I'm worried about is possible rejection risks or side effects from overstressing…" Krystal continues.

"Overstressing? Eh. If that'll be a problem in the long run then you'd better get rid of it, Krys." Aldo says in a condescending tone.

"…Got something to say, Aldo..?" James sighs, responding in some disapproval.

"I mean really, I don't want come across like an ass here, but I'm just saying that if this Dust thing makes her unable to go through pressuring situations, how's that gonna help during missions?" He questions, gesturing with hands at Krystal. "I don't know how much help it'll be if she has to remain calm and cool in the middle of starship assaults, dogfights, firefights… If stress can cause problems to happen, then she might as well stay out of our missions."

"Aldo…." James begins in frustration, trying to keep calm. "Okay, look… I don't really like the way you're putting it, but if it's true— if this starts to create problems, it can get in the way." James answers, with a short sigh. "For now we don't even know if Krystal will have any of these side effects yet, and I'm sure just regular combat won't put her through enough overstress to cause issues with Dust usage, so all we need to do is keep an eye out for how things are progressing with the nanomachines." James continues. "If it's just a new set of skills, then I don't think we need to go out of our way for anything. And if it starts becoming a problem, then we'll figure something out."

"That much I can handle. But seriously, if this turns out to get in the way, we might just have half a team member instead of one. So keep an eye out for her." Aldo replies.

"Aldo, James… While I appreciate both your concerns, I don't think there's much point in arguing and speculating over it. We don't know yet if anything will even happen with the Dust I have now. That's exactly why I'll try my best to keep this under control." Krystal speaks up. "I promise I won't let this get in our way."

"Thank you, Krystal. I'm glad you'll be giving your best on the mission as usual." James says. "Now, we should—"

Just before James continues his speech, the CIC echoes with collision course alarms. Quickly, James and the others resume their stations.

"Hey, what's going on?" James says over the captain's chair intercom, the others returning to their stations as well.

"Proximity alert, Captain. We have three cruiser ships blocking our way." ROB calls out, quickly sorting through his station for info. "Their weapons are hot. Raising our kinetic barriers."

Among the noise of the ship crew and the computer terminals, the startled crew and the audible warnings, a communications alert chirps across the CIC.

"Captain, incoming transmission." AIDA states.

"What?.. Put it onscreen, AIDA." James responds.

The sounds stop as the holographic screen activates. At the screen, the captain of one of the ships speaks up, seemingly the same species as Commander Ford of the Joint Initiative. Wearing a light grey uniform with gold and red trim, distinguishable from the other officers in the ship whose outfits are only steel-trimmed dark grey.

"This is the commanding officer of the _U.E.S. Vigil,_ Captain Karl Acturus of the United Empire Navy unit guarding the sector. Your ship has originated from the Gateway, and recently around this area, several Joint Initiative and trading vessels have been reporting attacks and going missing after encounters with raiders of unknown origin." The captain of one of their ships starts to speak, with both the CCV Endurance and the three cruisers in front of it stopping in place.

"Your warship is not recognized at the official United Empire starship records, and it is clearly of a battleship class with considerable firepower." The human states rather coldly. "Rest assured, attempting any acts of aggression will be met armed response. Unidentified vessel, state your intentions."

"This is Captain James McCloud speaking from the Cornerian starship, _CCV Endurance II_. We're here on a request on behalf of the Joint Initiative." James responds, standing up from his chair. "We're here on a mission to investigate any possible aggressors and the ship disappearance sites. The same attackers may be enemies of both your races and factions, and ours. We are scheduled to follow to a diplomatic assembly after reaching a resupply outpost, and then scouting the sector. We have no hostile intentions against any of the Empire Navy. Transmitting our clearance log and credentials now."

"Hm… So you're with the Joint Initiative as well… Indeed there has been word about the Initiative's recent accomplishments with the first contact in a system past the Gateway. You must be a member of the new species they've encountered." Captain Acturus replies, as he receives the data from the CCV Endurance.

"Our starship has been built with aid of Joint Initiative engineers and technology. However, we are not responsible for these attacks. This is our first arrival in this sector, and we have been also instructed to keep alert around the Gateway sector for any unknown attackers." James explains.

"I see… One moment—Commander, clear the alert over all hands and the support cruisers." The captain looks back another officer to order. "Pardon our overzealous approach, Captain McCloud. Due to the recent attacks, we have been ordered to keep strict security and monitor any suspicious activity while on patrol. As long as you and your crew do not disturb order in this sector or other areas of neutral space, you will be granted passage." The human turns back to James on the communications screen, with their weapon readings powering down.

"Thank you, Captain Karl. We'll continue with our mission." James states, while sitting back at his chair.

"You are free to proceed. Acturus out." The comm. screen closes as the warning status of the CCV Endurance clears as well.

"Hey, you know… Anyone else here's been wondering about what was in those transports that got attacked?" Aldo asks shortly after the comms screen closes. "It can't be happening without a reason."

"Any ships that go through the Gateway are only authorized by Joint Initiative officials, so the only thing we know is that they have clearance and are infiltrated in either of our sides…" Alex responds. "…As for what they want, no idea what they're after, honestly… The ships only had construction supplies and other provisions. As for weapons those transports only carry basic equipment, supplies such as electronics and relatively small Dust quantities, and the escorts are not exactly heavy battleships."

"Captain, the patrols have cleared the way. Should we continue our course?" AIDA asks to James.

"Trace course to the nearest Initiative outpost for resupply and to discharge our warp drive. We'll decide what to do next once we get there." James responds.

Alex inputs the commands onto the helm station, the whirring of the warp drive starting up soon after, with the ship departing with a blast into warp speed away from the checkpoint.

* * *

A few hours of travel pass before the CCV Endurance arrives at the Initiative outpost.

A smaller station than Corneria Spacedock, it harbored a couple of minor starships, possibly other Joint Initiative-affiliated scouts. This seemed to be a medium resupply and repair station: A few small vehicles fly over across station sections with materials containers and repair parts. Among drones, small cargo transports and the occasional maintenance craft, the CCV Endurance approaches the station, closing onto the docking bay and connecting to the space outpost.

The team walks out of the decontamination chamber into the station. It is surprisingly more silent than one would expect. Most of the work seems automated in the station with relatively few personnel, making for a less populated series of hallways and rooms.

The Lylatian group walks past a hallway into the station's communications room linked to the other side of the gateway. The advanced holoprojectors in the chamber were inactive at the time, lighting up to life along the numerous holopanels as James and the others step in.

" _Welcome to outpost GWAlpha Resupply Outpost Conference Room, Captain McCloud. Please state your business._ " A computerized voice inquiries.

"Open a communications link with Commander Markus Ford of the Joint Initiative in Lylat, Captain James McCloud is requesting further instructions for our mission." James replies.

* * *

"…Alright, Looks like the Imperial Navy is really living up to its reputation with tight border security."

After the current situation is explained by James to Ford in the holocall, Ford replies, then sending some more mission data to the team.

"Hopefully, no more issues like this get in the way. Now, Captain McCloud, your current route will take place across a few of the disappearance sites, where hopefully there is still some clue about what was going on at the time of the attack." Commander Ford issues the next step of the task. "While I'd appreciate if these attackers were incapacitated or eliminated, it'd be best if the first public announcement about Lylatians on this galaxy is from a diplomatic reception than as participant in a conflict."

"Hm, I understand. We'll try resorting to lethal force only if it's a critical need." James says in response. "What's our next step from here?"

"You'll be headed to a meeting of diplomats on planet Viacherus III. That's in independent, diplomatically neutral territory, but with former United Empire ties, located just near the border of the United Empire's inner rim worlds." Ford informs, putting up a hologram displaying info on the planet during the call. "This meeting will mostly concern matters of contested territory of a few developing factions and minor political tensions within the United Empire and other factions. We will arrange the opportunity for a formal first contact on behalf of the Joint Initiative and establish several official channels before our actual formal introduction in Lylat is made. You'll also be accompanied in the meeting by a Joint Initiative representative; you'll meet him at the capital city of the planet, in a tower near the spaceport where the meeting will be held. After that, you may visit the attack sites on your way back, hopefully something new can be found."

"Will do, Commander. I'll contact again once we've taken part on the meeting." James responds. "While at that, I—"

James is interrupted mid-sentence by a callout.

" _Captain James McCloud, your presence is requested at storage area 22."_

"Storage area? Huh… I suppose that'll be it for this meeting, Commander. As I said, we'll be in contact again once the meeting has taken place. James out." He ends the holocall, turning his head to face the others. "You guys can go ahead and get back to the ship. I'll meet you over there."

James parts his way from the rest of the team after leaving the conference room, walking down into an elevator as the others head back to the docking area.

* * *

The elevator doors open to reveal an eerily quiet and poorly lit storage room. James walks in looking into the surroundings, and yet no one is to be seen.

"Hello? Did anyone need me here?" James says out loud, his voice echoing past the various crates and containers.

No response is heard but some shuffling noises on the far side of the room ahead. James looks around once more, and reaches for his sidearm.

Before he is able to do anything, James is cut as something knocks his weapon away, holding a tight grip on his arms.

"Ah dammit, what the hell!?" James exclaims, struggling to break free.

James struggles off, shoving the aggressor away with his arms and sprinting towards his weapon. The figure quickly gets up and swiftly takes down James with a hit, pinning him down with a leg and pulling a handgun out, pointing it at James.

"That's far enough. And this will turn out better for the both of us if you stay right where you are." A female voice is heard from the figure wearing a light armor suit, with the upper face concealed by a face guard.

Even in the poor lighting, James can make sense from a few traits of the aggressor. The weapon seemed to be fit for obtaining silent kills; a submachinegun fitted with a suppressor. At the time, it was set to single shots. Her suit was colored gray with jet black trim, bearing a white, orange and black patterned shield emblem at her right shoulder, while her tail had light brown fur. The face, however, was hidden behind a dark iridescent face guard, with a blue tint from the visor's lights at her muzzle, the only visible part of the face. Other clues about the identity of the attacker were the distinctively feminine voice, the slightly curvy appearance, and the shape of the face guard—a specific fit for Lylatian vulpines.

With the armor having no markings of any sort sans a few lights at sides of the visor, and their ability to quickly disarm a seasoned combatant, whoever this person was, their gear and skills were clearly saying this was either an infiltrator, an or assassin.

"There's something I need to let you know. You can either hear me out the easy way, or I can make you listen. But I can't be careless and leave you armed."

"Agh!.. Alright, alright! I'll listen, just get off me!" James exclaims, being pressed against the floor.

She steps back from the James, keeping him at gunpoint and securing James' weapon a couple steps away.

"Right… What is it you have to tell me?" James gets back on his feet, hands up in yield.

"There are people who might want to kill you, Mr. McCloud. Dangerous people." She answers.

"Hah. That one makes a long list…" James quips in a facetious tone.

"I'd take this matter more seriously if I were you. I'm not here to kill you, but I'm really sure you won't be the only one at risk if they find out about me telling you this." She states. "I don't know whether you realized this or not, but all the events going on right now are part of one big scheme, James. And once you're in, you better be prepared for repercussions _once_ it all goes public."

"Alright, I'm listening. So what's the story?" James replies.

"From all that it seems like, you may not have somewhere safe to go back to. Not in Corneria, not in Lylat, not even in the Joint Initiative. I'm sure you've been informed by your clients that there have been reported attacks around this side of the Gateway. These attacks were Lylatian work."

"Wait, how is Lylat behind these attacks? Who? Why are they doing this?" James' ears perk up in attention.

"They're a secret scientific-military organization, called 'Schermer', only the highest rank and file get access or even know about its existence. We used to have this organization and its special operations forces as a first and last line of defense against threats that required… discretion." She continues. "The goal of our organization was to create an effort to combat and reverse-engineer alien threats after the Aparoid conflict, still operating under Lylatian law, but during the exploration efforts… Some shifts between the people who held the power caused all of our intentions, directives and orders to become… a lot different from what it originally was."

"…So your people have gone rogue, and they're now attacking others across the gateway region." James says in realization.

"Worse—officially, we're still operating under the same directives, so we have full access to anything we need in Lylat. But I'm starting to see that I… my superiors have motives of questionable nature, to say the least. They're no longer what they were in the beginning of our organization. And I'm willing to atone for taking a place in this scheme. I don't want to be part of this anymore." The woman says, shaking her head. "At first, we had ties with the Joint Initiative, but as I said, things took turns for the worst, and I think we still have some infiltrated members there, which may explain how we still have access to the Gateway."

"Schermer forces have been fighting this little war in the shadows for a while now. First it was just about capturing small ships and making them 'disappear' to later study them in detail. Then their security tightened, and now the people of this galaxy know about our activity, but didn't pinpoint Lylat as the perpetrators—yet." She continues.

"I don't think there's more I could tell you with conclusive evidence to support it, but I saw the things they're starting to do… Some of those outsiders from this galaxy and from the Joint Initiative may be suspicious, dangerous even, but now… Even in Lylat, Mr. McCloud, be careful with who you trust. Especially in Corneria." The woman continues.

"So tell me why should I trust _you_?" James inquiries.

The vixen stays silent for a moment, and looks downwards, away from James' face as if in shame, then holsters her SMG, giving James' handgun back to him.

"…I'm sorry. I didn't want all this to be cloak and dagger, but I had no other choice. I need to be on the edge with everything that's been going on recently, and there's too much at stake here. You're a famous figure in Lylat." The agent says, gesturing with her right hand at James. "A legendary fighter pilot and soldier who's given a paragon for all other private forces, having risen from a small PMC team into a position of privileged reputation. Your actions were even endorsed by the official military and you were given an entirely upgraded ship and a full crew out of how much they trust you."

"Being involved with the Joint Initiative makes you a key piece in here to give good first impressions of both sides, but remember… The news can be easily manipulated, and the Schermer have ways to make people believe." She finishes.

"I see… I think I understand what you're saying." He replies, grabbing his weapon back and holstering it as well. "I'll keep this in mind and stay alert—both here _and_ in Lylat. But it's still not a lot to go on. Are you sure that's all you can tell me?"

"There's one more thing… I've had some… privileged access to their planned goals, and apparently their leaders' intentions involve trying to sway you and your team to their side, James." She says. "They believe you'd make an immense influence asset, and they may try convincing you to act as moles within the Joint Initiative's ranks sometime in the future. I'm sure you'll know when one of their representatives approaches you."

"But why didn't you tell this to the Initiative? Couldn't you spy for their side instead?" James asks.

"No, I couldn't. They probably wouldn't listen to me and think that I'll feed them false info and red herrings, considering Schermer history." She replies. "I don't know if it'll improve things a lot if they hear it through you, but that's what I can do for now, and you're the best shot I have at it. I'd like you to relay this info at a later time, however."

"I wish I could say more. I'll trust that you'll keep discretion about this for the moment— I can't have this go public without any solid evidence to shut down all of this shady operation and, well… set things right." She says, stepping back from James. "I need to get going now, but I'll come back to you with more information if I can. I know where you're headed from here, so we'll meet again soon."

"Wait, before you go—why exactly are you doing this? Why tell about this to me?" James asks.

"…I'm doing this because things changed. It's not about defending anyone back in Lylat anymore. It's a power play for people who want to have absolution over our little corner of the universe. We used to put the needs of our people as a priority before. We used to have a cause, but now, we're fighting for things that I'm not sure if we all really believe in." She responds.

"…And I'm telling all this to you because… Because I trust you, James."

"Can I at least know a name? Anything I can call you?" James asks, stepping towards the woman.

"…Call me Mirage. We'll meet again." She says, before activating an optical camouflage in her stealth suit, cloaking herself and leaving invisible.

Startled at the encounter and concerned about the continuously thicker web of conspiracy forming around the recent events, James takes a last look at the surroundings and leaves as he parted ways with the agent; the so-called 'Mirage'.


	5. Chapter III: Intervention

**Chapter III: Intervention**

Back at the CCV Endurance, the rest of the team was already stationed at the CIC. As they were finishing some departure checklists at the ship, James walks out of the elevator.

Krystal's ears perk up as she hears the elevator doors sliding open, the mechanical parts releasing short bursts of pressurized air. Turning to see James, she can feel he's somewhat uneasy by his distant, concerned look and his somewhat tense expression. Krystal stands up from her station and walks up to James.

"So, what happened down there?" Krystal speaks up. "From the looks of it, seems like they wanted to tell something important."

"Ah, don't worry about that, I'm fine. I'm just… a bit concerned over all those things that have been crossing my mind. The mission, the Dust effects on you, what'll happen next… It's all clouding my thoughts a little, but… don't worry about it." James responds evasively.

"…James, please be honest with me." Krystal glares at James, concerned. "You look really worried, and from what I can feel, you might as well just have seen a ghost… What happened?"

James remains silent, and gives a paranoid glance around the CIC. Seeing the rest of the team and the other crewmen busy, he holds onto Krystal's left wrist.

"Look… I'll tell you then, but not here. I don't think we should discuss it out in the open." He says, looking back at Krystal.

Krystal glances back for a moment as well, and nods at James, the two walking quietly into the elevator. Krystal quickly pushes the 'close door' button, and looks at James.

"AIDA, please take us to the Crew Deck 2…" James asks through the intercom.

From the CIC, the elevator speeds down into the lower levels of the ship. Main area, mess hall, crew quarters, until the elevator stops at the deck for crew lead quarters at the center of the ship. Three doors—openable only by hand scans—were at a short hallway outside the elevator.

"The room belonging to you and Krystal is right ahead, Captain." AIDA announces.

James places his hand at the scanner. The doors unlock and open, allowing their entrance. Inside, they found a sleek set of furniture colored white and gray with black details and trim, and some with dark wood, fittingly with the starship's design and color scheme.

The seats were placed in front of an artificial window-screen that displayed colorful nebulae and stars. Decorative ceiling lights in abstract shapes illuminated the room, with a bookshelf and a personal desk seen to the left of the room as the couple stepped in. To the right, a minimalist, yet comfortable-looking bed sat suitable for the couple.

"Well, now that we're far away from the crowds… What is it you wanted to say, James?" Krystal sat down at the couch near the viewscreen. James followed not long after, settling down by her side.

"While you were on your way back to the ship, the person who called me… I was approached by some sort of agent, 'Mirage'. She told me who's behind the attacks Ford told us about in the briefing. They're some secret military organization from Lylat, called Schermer…" James explains. "Mirage didn't tell much of it, but she said that it began as a something of an alien threat combat force… Their goal was to protect Lylat, even if the means are questionable. Now, it's turned into something else, more dangerous, and more ruthless. Mirage is gathering information, trying to find incriminating evidence against the Schermer if I understood her correctly, but doesn't have much to go on at the moment."

"But what are we going to do about this? If this group is now becoming a threat to peaceful relations, we should have let Ford or the Defense Force know of—"

"There's more, Krystal." James interrupts her. "She wasn't specific about it, but if what she said is true, when they find out someone's been leaking on what they're doing… bad things will happen, to say the least. To her, to us. Probably the others, too. This Schermer group was once operating under Lylatian authority and managed to infiltrate some agents into the Initiative by that time." James says, looking at Krystal with a worried expression. "My best guess is that the heads of Mirage's group are influent leaders, politicians, corporate figures with enough funding and resources to back and cover all this… And from what Mirage implied, they can turn the whole system against us. If that happens… there's no way things will go well from there."

"I see… I understand why you felt so worried about it, then…" Krystal holds onto his hands, leaning gently on James.

"I can deal with problems directly in front of me… Rogue private military and ruthless mercenaries, insane Andross followers, the Aparoids… They are all obvious threats. You don't need to think too hard about it, you know, and you can tell who's on your side or not. Just point a gun in the general direction of the problems and shoot." James says while looking at the wispy glow of the viewscreen nebulae.

"And then there are things like this… There's always the freak incident of some enemy among us, and those always exploit every chance to tip the odds in their favor through guile and treachery… They won't think twice before they sway the state in their wake…" James sighs for a moment after saying, still trying to collect his thoughts.

"I understand, but James… I think it would be best not to dwell on that for too long… If what Mirage told you is true, we can't do a lot without more information, so there isn't much a point, and… Being like this will probably get people's attention." Krystal says, embracing James in a reassuring hug.

"Don't worry. We're all with you here, and I won't let the others change this if I can help it. Anyway… You look tired. I think you'd be better off taking some time to rest; the last few days sure have been full… And don't worry; I'll keep this information private." Krystal continues, leaning close to James.

"Yeah… You're probably right; I haven't had much sleep since a few days ago. It might help clear up those thoughts somewhat…" James sighs once again, trying to shake his concerns off for a moment. Until Mirage could return to him with more information there was no other option.

His concerns weren't void of reason, but at that moment he could only do so much. He walks off from his seat, settling down to rest after walking up to his bed.

James turns to face the viewscreen on his rest. Krystal is still sitting on the couch, a thoughtful expression on her face as she turns back to him: "I'll just be here for a while longer. I don't really feel like resting right now, and there are still some things I'd like to take a few moments to think more about… If there's anything else you need, I'll be here."

James only nods in response, dozing into sleep not long after he closes his eyes.

* * *

 _11th of Month Seven, 2979 GST – Neutral Space._

Hours pass as the CCV Endurance performed its warp travel, little but the hum of the drive core and the ventilation sounding into the room. James and Krystal's room's viewscreen had replaced the simulated nebulae with a sunrise seen from orbit. The star shining outside gave the room some lighting while James slowly regained consciousness at the shipboard morning.

James opens his eyes, seeing Krystal sleeping in front of him at the other side of the bed, with a serene expression on her face. James smiles, caressing her face gently, and then gets up from his rest, walking off to the viewscreen. As it turns out, a text overlay reading "live feed" was seen at the corner of the viewscreen, instead of a simulated view. It seemed the CCV Endurance had recently jumped out of warp; the starship was on its approach to a planet.

James walks out of his room, and heads into the elevator to the CIC. After the short transit between decks, the doors slide open upon his arrival, with a few other crew members and Alex already on their station.

"Good morning, James. I see you're now awake again. Have you found your personal quarters suitable to your liking?" AIDA greets James as he leaves the elevator.

"I had a comfortable night of sleep, thank you, AIDA." James replies. "Have we arrived at Viacherus III?"

"Yes, Captain, we've just entered orbit around the planet." Alex responds.

"The meeting will be held at the capital of Viacherus III, 'Alenia'." ROB explains. "We can send off a shuttle as soon as you are ready."

"Are the others ready?" James asks to ROB.

"Aldo and Sully headed down to the hangar bay not too long ago." ROB replies. "You should notify Ms. Krystal of her required presence."

"I think she's still asleep… I'll have her catch up with us soon, ROB." James says, heading back to his quarters in the elevator.

While in the elevator, he hears an incoming call sound from his hand terminal.

"Hey James! You planning to sleep through the entire mission or something? The two of us are waiting on you here at the shuttle bay!" Aldo quips over the video call. "What's with the hold-up?"

"I won't take too long now, Aldo. I'll also have Krystal join us soon, so sit tight for a few more minutes." James replies, hitting the lead crew deck button on the elevator.

"Alright, just don't go taking your sweet time. See you once you're here, Aldo out."

Once the short call between James and Aldo ends, James leaves the elevator upon arriving at his room's deck. Opening the door, he can see Krystal is already awake, still sitting at bed looking at the viewscreen while rubbing her hands at her eyes.

"Oh, good morning Krystal. I didn't know you were already up." James greets her as he enters the room.

"Oh, hm… Hello again, James." Krystal looks back at James, getting up, looking back at the viewscreen with a distant look.

"Did you have trouble sleeping? You sound somewhat distracted right now." James asks, approaching Krystal.

"I managed to have a nice night of rest, actually, but thank you for asking. I'm just a bit distant since… I had a dream about home… Cerinia. It was so strange." Krystal says, rubbing both hands on her face. "It wasn't anything of a nightmare... Actually I was just roaming at the last city I lived in back then… though it seemed nobody else was there."

"I haven't dreamt of Cerinia in a while now…" She looks back to James, now less lost in her thoughts. "I'm sorry; it's probably just a random dream… I presume I'm needed somewhere now as well, yes?"

"That's right. We're heading down to Viacherus now. Aldo and Sully are already by the shuttle bay, we just need to meet them there." James replies, pointing back to the door with his thumb. "By the way, if you'd like, you can let me know more about that dream later. I always like hearing you speak your mind."

"Thank you, James. I'll tell more about it later if I can figure out anything noteworthy…" Krystal nods and walks past James, then looking back at him from the door. "Now, I suppose we should get going, it shouldn't be too long until that meeting begins."

The two leave their room, taking the elevator past the crew decks, down to the hangar bay of the CCV Endurance. From the larger, spacious bay a small transport shuttle flies outwards, changing its course to a reentry into the planet below soon after, down to the capital city.

* * *

The terran planet of Viacherus III grew closer until the horizon far away was filled with the dim orange of the fading evening. The city lights below glowed with the shuttle passing far above the city. Away into the horizon, plains with a few hills were seen, and at the far side of the evening, the orange star setting down, with the colored sky giving place to the starry night up above.

As an established neutral system, Viacherus had become a known location for unbound trading and other sorts of commerce. Many of the trade routes of nearby factions, and even goods from distant sectors of the galaxy would circulate among the system. The sector was guarded against pirates and raiders by several private forces, most of which used starship designs of the United Empire's navy. Imperial vessels were renowned for their durability and versatility, as well as relatively low production cost, which made the UE attain both one the largest fleets of their time and a great deal of financial income from private naval construction contracts.

The transport shuttle turned and banked off from its scenic path down into the city's center. The capital, Alenia, had its own share of skyscrapers towering over the core of the city. The ground was almost difficult to see with the amount of buildings, with the glowing lights off the windows and balconies, and suspended plazas, skyways and entire 'floors' of the city layered above each other. Vehicles passed by the skyways in between buildings, while other shuttles flew from orbit and appeared among the city buildings.

A few larger ships were stationed down at what seemed like a spaceport off in another part of the city. Most were civilian ships although two cruisers were seen at the port. A gathering of smaller shuttles and quite a bit of activity could be seen happening towards the center of the port facilities. It was a large tower, decorated with long, curvy steel plates that rose from a distance up into the tall cylindrical tower, the plates crossing each other in the bottom of the tower, and joining up with the rest of the building by the top.

The CCV Endurance's transport shuttle approaches the spaceport, landing near to other shuttlecraft at the wide, spacious plaza in front of the entrance of the tower. A few shuttles departed after their passengers left, while others remained. The people would occasionally greet and converse with each other. Most of them would be wearing fine clothes and suits decorated with each nation's and corporate colors and emblems. Along these, occasionally one could find shuttlecraft refuel and maintenance personnel in the area, and the security riflemen of the center, wearing light armor with a red vest over their left shoulders.

"StarFox, we've arrived at LZ. I'll hold the shuttle parked here until you leave." The transport's pilot announces to James and the others. "The diplomatic meeting will take place at the tower nearby."

"Understood. Thanks for the lift. I'll let you know once we're done here." James responds over the comm panel, opening the shuttle's door after getting up from his passenger seat.

As James walks out of the shuttle, he looks around the sides, checking the surroundings of the landing plaza. Decorative fountains with water arches, a shallow artificial river, and light posts decorated the surroundings of the tower giving the metallic floor an orange hue. The rest of the team steps out shortly after, following James through the plaza.

"Huh, not bad. Those guys know how to make a pretty-looking place." Aldo comments on the environment, both hands in his uniform jacket's pockets. "I just hope we don't have to spend all day in there—I can't really stand political meetings. Makes me itch for some real action."

"Real action, Aldo? That usually means 'getting ourselves out of some hell' considering how things usually go for us. Anything else is basically shore leave for me." James remarks at Aldo's comment, rolling his eyes.

"Well yeah, but we're getting paid for that anyways. Besides, the only time we ever ran into a really bad ground mission was at that one Aparoid attack in the middle of Corneria City." Aldo comments.

"Hah, you think that was bad? At least we were geared up for that one. Come back to me about it once you get a weapons-equipment-OSP assignment." James replies while shaking his head, tapping Aldo's shoulder.

"You keep bringing Sauria up… Come on, it was 'an opportunity to improve your non-combat skills', wasn't it?" Aldo says with a smirk.

"Yeah, great opportunity to do that when all you have with you is bad intel while going into a hot zone… What—did the CDF expect them to be fighting with sticks and stones?" James looks at Aldo, muttering under his breath. "I'm pretty sure at least five guys at once were shooting at me with hunting rifles during some point. It's a wonder I even managed to complete the mission there."

"Buuuut not as stylishly, of course. Admit it, that mission only went south because you didn't have your trusty squadmate to save your hide from trouble." Aldo nudges at James' side with his arm, laughing a bit afterwards.

"Yeah, having someone around would have helped—except the legendary Aldo Lombardi was braving far reaches of Lylat's underworld with his own team. Sooo, how did that one turn out?" James replies, wincing as he looks at Aldo.

"Well yeah, that one…" Aldo says, looking to the other side and tilting his head evasively from James. "…So Krystal, you ever think of that time you spent surviving in Sauria—"

"No." she tilts her head towards Aldo after he tries to evade the question, glaring at him with the flat reply.

"C'mon, I'm just curious—and it could help to know some tips on surviving with the _bare minimum_ , y'know." Aldo says in a snide insinuation.

"…This conversation is over." Krystal's expression turns to one of annoyed disinterest, as she turns her face away from Aldo while walking forward.

"Not even a quick one?"

"I've been learning Dust-based neural shocks." Krystal quickly looks back at Aldo, with a short pulse momentarily shining through Dust patterns in her eyes.

"…Aah, maybe we'll talk later." Aldo replies after his disappointment in evading the subject.

"Yeah, you'll probably have a better excuse to not tell your story by then." James comments with a smirk on his face.

"Man, what a pain…"

Walking ahead of the rest of the team, James arrives at the crowded interior of the large tower near the spaceport.

"Lots of people around here. I feel it might take a few hours until the meeting is finished, so brace yourself, Aldo. We should be meeting a Joint Initiative rep around the lobby." James says as the others catch up.

"Right then. And after that's all done we can get back to search the Gateway sector for the aggressors." Aldo says.

The chatter of the visitors and staff of the area soon became louder and gave the distinct ambient noise of a busy city building interior. The sound of the people of various races and looks pacing across the walkways inside the area chatting, some laughing and others discretely talking closer was drowning out the sounds outside of the lobby area.

A few curious but short glances towards the Lylatian group were seen by Krystal and James. Although the group did seem to stand out a bit in the crowd, it was not enough to cause a stir as the others seemed to shrug off the new arrivals as just another species in the culturally and racially-diverse gathering of the meeting.

However, one of the visitors approached the team as they reached around the middle of the lobby, near some decorative plants and a few marble benches beneath a chandelier decorated in geometric shapes, far up in the ceiling. The human of a light skin tone approached the Lylatian. He had short, dark brown hair combed to the right, and was wearing a fine, gray-and-black officer's suit bearing the Joint Initiative's emblem on his shoulder and at a badge on his chest. Standing close to James, he offered a handshake, with a visibly black-painted, cybernetic right arm.

"Mr. James McCloud. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." The human says as he lifts his hand forth.

"Thanks. It seems like we're here just in time— Looks like we've got quite a gathering along us for the meeting." James replies while shaking the human's prosthetic hand. "And you would be?"

"The name's Alexander Buran. I'm with the Joint Initiative as a peacetime diplomat for minor factions and species that may need for formal introduction into galactic society. This branch of the Initiative makes sure people like yours have the ability to voice themselves to the major names of our galaxy." The human introduces himself and explains his role.

"Of course, the meeting hasn't been arranged entirely over Lylat as a matter of fact, so it may take a while until we cover your situation. But I'll be sure that due attention is given." Alexander continues. "By agreeing with participating in the construction and usage of the Gateway, our leaders have also accepted to recognize the territorial, planetary and interstellar sovereignty of whatever civilization we would find on the other side. With that, proper measures must be taken to assure no hostile or criminal entity attempts to violate the rights of these civilizations. In this case, your people."

"Commander Ford did mention some of how the Joint Initiative works with minor and new factions into the galactic picture. We'll do our best to further peaceful relations with Lylat." Krystal comments, nodding at the human diplomat.

"The sentiment is appreciated, Krystal. Now then, let's see if our side is willing to do the same in return." Alexander says, before taking a handheld device from his pocket, and typing something at it. "It seems the meeting will begin shortly. Let's move on, I'll guide you to the main chamber."

As the diplomat motions forth to a large hallway into the building, the rest of the team paces out of the lobby with the human. With the passage being decorated with a gilded red carpet, soft orange lights on the walls and tall arches every few meters, some security riflemen stand guard near the end of the hall.

The guards stand aside as Buran passes by, letting the others pass alongside him. As they enter a spacious inner cylindrical chamber of the skyscraper, many of the other diplomats and leaders are seen on the handful open floors of the chamber.

"Here, let's head upward. Just a few moments until the session begins." Alexander walks over with the team to an elevator, heading to the fourth floor out of the seven in the chamber.

Sitting on some vacant chairs in the front row of their area, Alexander, James and the others settle down. Near the center of the chamber, a holoprojector lights up as the main lights of the room dim out. A human walks onto the platform at the center, wearing decorated raiments of dark blue trim, bearing a gilded cape laid on his shoulders and back. Once at the platform, he begins speaking.

"Good evening to all representatives, diplomats and leaders present here today. I am Iohannes Nihil, spokesman of the Neutral Space Assembly." He greets the crowd surrounding him. "This meeting of nations, factions and species shall address issues regarding political and border issues, rights over planetary and system resources, confederative secession of factions, and requests for colonial aid and supplies at this time."

"Yeaaah… This is gonna take a while." Aldo says, relaxing back on his chair.

"To begin this meeting, I'd like to address the territorial dispute in the planet Auriga, the fourth planet of system Altair." Nihil continues. "It is currently under control of the people of The Vaulters, whose ancestors had lived in the planet before their flight preceding a planetary cataclysm, later resettling at the Auriga after…"

The attention shifted to the summit as the several diplomats, representatives of nations and spokespeople conversed and debated with each other. Various issues, several planets and systems involved in each of them; Rights over territory disputed through the ages; independence of new, minor splinter nations; Trade treaties, embargos, and political agreements over the several factions.

Some of the diplomats kept to a civil dispute, some squabbled with each other as the time grew longer; four hours passed since the beginning of the session, with a few pauses in between. The StarFox team members seemed passive at the matters held there, with a comment or other occasionally over the politicians' behavior. Aldo still seemed dismissive at the events, however.

Outside of the tower, the sun already set far down into the horizon. As the night filled the skies of Alenia, some of the summit's members had begun to leave the meeting as their dealings were already finished for this occasion. After some time, the Neutral Space spokesman announces one of the next matters to be discussed:

"…Next, this summit shall address official contact with some notable visitors, representing the peoples first met by the Joint Initiative and hailing from the distant worlds of Lylat, a system at the far side of the Joint Initiative's Gateway. The Initiative's representative, Alexander Buran, shall proceed."

"Thank you, Mr. Iohannes. Now… As other members of this summit may know, the Joint Initiative has established some clear regulations for the usage of the Gateway. Such regulations included an agreement to avoid aggressive expansion into the worlds to be found at the far side of the Initiative's Intergalactic Gateway." Alexander states.

"Our issues, however, begin with some of our major shareholders, that have already expressed some reluctance as our conditions were deemed 'too strict' and 'put barriers in progress that could strengthen our economies', in the words of the current CEO of the naval construction and industrial company, Adaman Incorporated…" The Initiative diplomat continues, looking down at one of the seat rows not too far away in the chamber. "Isn't that right, Mr. Cornelis?"

From his seat at the row, a man wearing a red glided trench coat stands up, adjusting his vest. He's visibly of some considerable age, already with some of his hair growing white. After Buran states his claims, Cornelis speaks up in a confident tone after Alexander's statement.

"You may speak freely of our corporation and our interests, Mr. Alexander; whatever the outcome, this is not a concerning matter either for me or for Adaman Incorporated's business. This corporation is the result of generations of the Adaman family's leadership, and I'm compelled to keep our name this way for the corporation." Cornelis responds. "Now, just keep in mind that we've invested major amounts of resources and credits into the Joint Initiative funding to rebuild the Endless gateway technology. We have our operative freedoms and we stand our ground to keep this right of our workers and associates."

"It is understandable that your concerns involve that, but we did clearly state that any civilizations to be found in the Gateway's neighboring sectors should have their borders and development clear of interference and respected by our side." Alexander counters. "Over the last few years, they've scouted out systems that may be suitable for colonization of their own people. Most of which have been in your deployment plans for the industrial operations on the far side of the Gateway, Mr. Cornelis."

"By your side of the treaties established, you agreed not to interfere with, or jeopardize the development of any nation or people who would be living there. Lylat is still the cradle of a relatively young civilization, and recently has been finding itself in a time of change." The diplomat continues. "Soon those changes may not only involve their own people but most notably, our races. They're an unique people, and should be respected as such."

"If anything, Mr. Alexander, the people of Lylat are not what we're interested in; I can assure you of that. My only interest is that the corporation receives some well-deserved return for our contributions." Cornelis states coldly, staring at the human, and then looking at the Lylatian group. "But the people there? I can't know their interests. A budding star system that only recently has gotten out of wide-scale conflicts, and instead of proper representatives, they send us their 'paragons', which turn out to be only private military no less. I'm assuming there must be a good reason for it, Mr. McCloud."

Alexander looks back at James and nods, stepping aside, giving him way at the front of the Lylatian group. James looks straight at Adaman, before speaking, his voice echoing across the chamber's audio speakers.

"Mr. Adaman, considering your tone, I believe the intel you may have about our worlds has been misguided. Neither I, nor the rest of my team or any other pilot and soldier who had their name commended and known in Lylat achieved it out of mere fluke or without a reason." James replies. "The fact we had wars can't be denied, and yes, my occupation is being the leader of a strike team—a private strike team, that is. But through my entire career, I've been assisting the Cornerian Defense Force in official military operations between private guard duties with flawless service record; no civilian casualties or questionable contracts can be found on our mission history."

"I've been sent here because our military vouches for our actions and service record, and I'm here representing our very best." James continues, leaning forth on the handrail with both hands on it. "And despite any animosity from either side that may be, I'm willing to find a reasonable common ground to solve our issues. In which case, our colonization efforts."

"After our briefing at Corneria, I've read dossiers provided by the Joint Initiative with relevant information, and it seems that your corporation has provided massive funding into the construction of the Gateway, and your corporation agreed to cooperate as you saw it as a potential investment." He continues, motioning with his hand down at Cornelis.

"That would be correct." The human responds. "As such, we expected to be granted exploitation rights to at least three systems in the vicinity of the Gateway sector. We evaluated some data collected by the Joint Initiative, and some resource-rich systems showed promise. Except, your people are apparently staking claims on said systems."

"On their argument, Mr. Adaman, they are the natives and have been planning this expansion for several years now. Getting in the way now would require them to relocate their outposts and exploration teams on those systems, and it would be a hurdle to overcome. Now, we understand that your corporation has funded the project in a considerable amount—"

"Mr. Alexander, do not insult my intellect. To say a good half of the entire project is only a 'substantial amount' is understating all that was involved here." Cornelis interrupts the Initiative diplomat in a loud voice, wearing a tense expression. "Outposts can be rebuilt or repurposed, but a prospecting mission sending ships into uncharted space might as well be a waste of time and resources."

"Gentlemen, settle down." The mediator of the summit cuts in. "If we must, take the time you need to properly discuss this."

"I agree with Mr. Nihil. I'll be glad to clear up any doubts that may still be on the air." James comments. "Now, while our outposts…"

The time elapsed since the beginning of the summit draws longer with the discussion treating Lylat's concerns from that moment onwards. James gave all his attention to this, taking in account the weight of every word he spoke, trying to complete this half of his mission the best way possible.

It was visible that Cornelis' patience grew shorter with the time passing. Despite seemingly having some fairness to his claims at the start, his arguments were slowly breaking down as the discussion progressed. Perhaps the odds weren't in his favor.

* * *

The debate came to a close after long, drawn out discussion between the two parties.

"…This summit has made its decision. The colonization plans from the worlds of Lylat will suffer no changes, and the systems of Ysdrall, Taurus, Clavis and Decem at the far sector of Gateway Omega shall be respected as Lylatian authority. Adaman Incorporated shall change their deployment plans of the next operations to avoid interfering in Lylat's colonization initiative." The human mediator says. "As for Lylat, further diplomatic envoys shall proceed to establish public contact with us on behalf of the Joint Initiative."

With the words of Nihil, James nods, and joins the rest of the group back at their seat row. At the far side of the room, Adaman is seen talking to one of his associates and shaking his head in disappointment.

"Great work, Mr. McCloud. I knew the Initiative could count on you for this." Alexander says, with a pat on James' shoulder.

"Thank you, but I feel like this is not over yet. Mr. Buran." He replies, eyeing down at the other human, leaving the chamber through one of the exits.

"Indeed… We may still contact you for further services should the need arise, but for now, we've made a valid case for your kind." The diplomat comments. "You sure live up to the reputation of leadership you've built, and we'll be glad to continue working with you in the future."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe I should take my leave now. There's some more work to be done elsewhere, and I'm sure you may be departing soon. Good luck out there, James." The human finishes, walking off from the group as they get up from their seats. James waves at the Joint Initiative diplomat as he walks off into one of the chamber doors of this floor, and with the rest of the team, he walks out of the summit as the rest of the guests continue their dealings.

* * *

Walking down one of the corridors of the tower, James receives a message on his hand terminal, though the subject line was empty and the sender ID was seemingly corrupted. James opened the message, and apparently the agent he previously met would like to speak again:

" _Meet me a few floors below._

 _-Mirage."_

Krystal, who was walking close by James, saw the message, and noticed his surprise. She held at his right shoulder with her left hand, and once she had his attention, she glanced back at Aldo and Sully, who were still following the two, distracted in the middle of some idle chatter.

"Huh… Hey guys, you can go ahead to the shuttle, looks like someone needs me for a moment." He says, while closing his message box on the communicator.

"Actually James, would you mind if I stayed with you?" Krystal interrupts James. "I was wondering about something you said during the summit's session, maybe we could talk about that…" She says.

"Aah… Sure thing. I don't see any harm in it." The other fox answers.

"Okay then, we'll get back to the shuttle. I'll tell the pilot to keep everything ready to go once you're back." Sully says, still walking with Aldo.

James and Krystal detour from the other two, and walk onto an elevator by the corridor, while Sully and Aldo continue off down their path.

Another message is seen at James' communicator, this time saying with only a number, ' _5_ '. He pushes the key to that floor accordingly. The elevator immediately closes and heads down to that floor.

"Krystal, do you really think it's a good idea to come along? Mirage asked to keep the number of people who know about this to a minimum." James questions her decision to come while the two traversed down the floors inside the elevator.

"I want to come along and see if I can figure out anything about this Mirage. Maybe there's more she isn't telling us." Krystal replies. "I was thinking on it after you went to sleep yesterday. It's not impossible she might be working against us as well."

"So, a double agent?"

"I'm not sure what to say about her yet." Krystal continues. "With these people, you never know. I'll try sensing her out and see if her real intentions are to help us, though."

"I'd rather have you not trying anything, actually…" James replies. "Mirage doesn't seem like just a regular gun for hire or even a marksman—She seems to be quite a few cuts above the usual soldier, equipment to match. If what she told me is true, then the Schermer probably also have technology to prevent agents from being interrogated or having their information somehow leak. And if she's a double agent, we need to play our moves even more carefully."

"I'll play along if I can make sure it's safe to trust her." Krystal says. "It just seems too convenient that she's willing to help."

"I guess it's too late to change our minds, then. We're at floor 5 now."

The elevator stops, having reached floor 5, opening shortly after a chime.

* * *

The doors open, with the couple walking out of them, looking at the surroundings. It was one of the maintenance equipment rooms of the building, and nobody seemed to be there but the two. The floor lights near the walls lit the room enough to see around it.

"I expected you'd be alone for this, James. I hope she can be trusted." Mirage's voice is heard from behind the two as they reach the center of the room. Krystal turns in that direction, and James looks back over his shoulder.

Mirage's cloaking fades, with the agent leaning back against the elevator doors, typing some commands into a wrist device built into her suit, which seems to lock doors of the room, the elevator, and shut down cameras of this room, following by crossing her arms once done. The face-guard visor still hides her upper face and eyes, with only her muzzle and tail being vague clues of her identity as a Lylatian vulpine.

"You must be the one 'Mirage' agent that James mentioned to me before. I asked to come along because I feel it might be better if we work together here, but I'll keep any information about this from spreading to anyone else." Krystal says, greeting the other vixen.

Krystal had her doubts about Mirage, though. Usually, she would be able to notice life forms nearby, especially as close as a few steps from the elevator door. However, not even her honed natural senses and ESP were able to detect Mirage until her cloaking was gone, and even then, Krystal still could not make certain of who she really was, or if her declared intentions were honest.

"We can trust her, Mirage. Krystal's on our side." James adds, turning to face Mirage and walking closer to her.

Krystal felt as if a shroud obscured any trace of Mirage, perhaps due to some sort of psychic insulation. Whatever the reason, Krystal already saw that as a sign that warranted suspicion.

 _Optical stealth camouflage, silent movement, and she can even conceal her psychic and life signs… Who_ _ **is**_ _she? What's with all the cover this Mirage is putting up?_

"Well, I hope you know what you're doing. I don't think my superiors would like it very much if they caught wind I'm turning whistleblower, and she'd probably be on their blacklist too if that happened." Mirage says, pointing at Krystal. "Also… I never had you figured as a kind of person who'd do so well in speeches as you did today. Nice work back there." She comments, with a slight smile shortly visible at her muzzle.

"Thanks, I'm just glad I could solve part of this matter peacefully, though I still don't feel very comfortable around politics. It's not my line of work, honestly." James says. "Anyway, is there anything new you can tell us?"

"I think there might be. Before I first contacted you, I managed to convince a small number of people in the Schermer ranks to collaborate with me. It's not more than a dozen people, but seems like some of the people I managed to persuade reported back, and they came across a few pieces of information that might be good leads on exposing dangerous activity." Mirage says, using her suit's device to pass data to James' hand terminal. "It seems like they've been obtaining Dust from the ships they've captured and destroyed, and while information is still scarce on this project, from what it looks like, they're trying to find a way to weaponize it."

"Weaponized alien nanotechnology?.. That sounds like some dangerous research your people are working on." Krystal says. "It can become quite a deterrent as well, seeing how Dust is the staple of the civilizations here..."

"If the Schermer are doing anything like that, it'll really attract all sorts of wrong attention from the people of this galaxy." James states. "But you said you don't have much information—why? Aren't you also in the Schermer ranks?"

"Schermer works in a task-oriented cell structure. I only know of the existence and a few details of the cell working on that project, but most agents don't know of other cells and won't recognize their respective agents. It's been difficult to find details about where they're taking all of it or what sort of weapon they're researching for another reason: it's all locked away only for top access levels, and I don't have enough information on mine, but I'm working on it. The amount of effort and funds they're directing to this is massive, though; I didn't think even by using front corporations we'd have enough to research so fast into it." Mirage says. "If anything, the Schermer are either wanting to do something really big, or really soon."

Despite still having her guard up, Mirage started to seem distracted while reporting her findings. However, Krystal still wasn't able to read Mirage through this psychic 'block'. She steps closer to James, occasionally giving glances at Mirage while looking into the data on James' hand terminal.

"Right, any other leads?" James asks, skimming through Mirage's findings.

"Other than 'just follow the money', I don't think there's a lot more I know about this project. Most of the funding comes from private transfers and deals, and usually the client never directly meets Schermer officers unless they're receiving select shipments of tech, if they can afford our prices." She replies. "But with the astronomical cost of those, I think it's safe to say that Corneria is where most of that tech is being sent to. A few other places in Lylat also may be involved in this, so I'll send more data if I can track any specifics down."

"Great… I imagine we might need to deal with other PFs on the way if money's involved…" James comments.

"That's a possibility. One more thing… I've been also keeping an eye out for the other side of things. While I was here at Alenia, I intercepted some strange transmissions from none less than Mr. Cornelis… The current inheritor of Adaman Incorporated. I believe you've met him." Mirage continues. "Before the summit started, some chatter from his private security forces talked about 'being tired of waiting for the next move', and by the end of the summit, one of his messages said: 'There's been a change of plans. The summit's decision wasn't on our side. It's time to proceed with the original operation schedule', as it would seem."

"What's this 'plan' they're talking about? Did you get anything about that?" Krystal asks.

"Sadly no, they kept changing frequencies often, and also used codes among their messages, so I only could make sense of some of them. Regardless, I'd keep an eye out for that guy… He looks shadier than your average corporate drone." Mirage adds. "That's all the intel I have for now. But I have one last thing that might help."

Mirage then steps closer to the two other two, and grabs a reinforced vial from one of her powered suit's hip pouches. The vial glows slightly in a golden hue, as Mirage offers it to her collaborators.

"Here. It's a sample my associates in the Schermer ranks managed to obtain from the Dust they're working with." Mirage says to James and Krystal. "I didn't give it to you when we first met, because I didn't know if you'd cooperate, but I guess it's time to give something concrete. I still don't know what are the experiments being done or what they're after with this, but I remember a few of your new crewmembers are Dust specialists, so you might want them to have a look at this." Mirage says. "Maybe we can figure out while working together."

"Hm… I think Simon and the others at the tech labs might be able to help with that. I'll take this to them once we're back at the CCV Endurance." Krystal says, taking a step forward and reaching for the vial.

At the same time however, Krystal leverages the opportunity of being this close to try finding out Mirage's real intentions. Krystal deviates her hand from the vial and then tries holding onto Mirage's wrist, in order to use her ESP to make certain about who or what Mirage actually is.

Krystal's eyes briefly glow in a faint gold hue, but before she can start sensing through the power suit, Mirage pushes her hand aside and backs away in a dash with lightning-quick reflexes, unsheathing a blade from her back and holding Krystal at bladepoint, the other vixen backing away from the sword.

"Mirage, what the hell? Okay, what's going on?" James exclaims at Mirage, not having noticed Krystal's attempt to pry into Mirage's thoughts.

"A warning, for now. I noticed Krystal was trying to sense through me with her ESP, probably to find out my identity or something." Mirage says, lowering her guard and sheathing her blade.

"I guess there's no point in playing innocent in this… I did try to figure out what her real intentions are, but it seems she's too well-trained and equipped for me to sense or read through." Krystal says, with her eyes no longer glowing, standing far from Mirage.

"I don't really understand what is there to gain taking down the people she's been working for, especially considering how dangerous she says they are." Krystal says, turning to face Mirage afterwards. "It feels like you're going into more than what the bargain is really worth, almost as if you're still holding something from us. There's got to be a catch."

"Look… There's _no_ catch. I thought it would be a given, but we need to trust each other here. What the Schermer are doing might be even more dangerous to us from Lylat than to our 'enemies'. I'm not holding back anything relevant from you, but I can't let you know my identity—not yet anyway." Mirage says, facing straight towards Krystal. "It's not a matter of 'if' but rather, _once_ the Schermer figure someone's acting from within, they'll use every opportunity to get clues of who it is. At least trust my advice on this: they know how to make people talk. And they won't be picky about who they have to 'persuade' into talking. The less people know that one of their agents is acting against them, the better, and it's paramount that my real identity isn't revealed right now."

A moment of silence follows with the vixens still eyeing one another, James between the two. Mirage then gives a sigh and shakes her head, and steps forward to James, handing over the vial to him. James proceeds to store the vial at one of his uniform jacket's inner pockets.

"Anyway, I should probably take my leave now, and you still need to return to your mission." Mirage says, walking off from the two and unlocking the elevator and doors of the room. "I'll let you know everything you might want to hear once the time is right, but for now, you'll have to trust what I can tell you. I don't want to be working against any of you on this."

Krystal looks down and sighs, then nodding at Mirage. Setting her doubts aside would be a challenge as Mirage could be leveraging this as an opportunity to attack StarFox up close.

"Okay… I suppose there's no other choice. I'll give you this vote of trust, if you're honest about being on our side."

"She's our only lead about it, Krystal. I don't think we should turn down help in times like this." James says.

"A vote of trust is good enough for me. I don't expect you to count me as an one-hundred-percent trusted ally, Krystal, but still, I do hope we can work together, even if you have your doubts." Mirage adds, unlocking the doors of the room from her multitool.

"I suppose we can settle for that... And, thank you for the information." Krystal replies.

Mirage nods in response, and walks out the door on the far side of the room, with the cloaking system allowing her to leave invisible. James and Krystal decide not to linger, and proceed to leave the area, taking the elevator down to ground level again.

Later, the shuttle of the Lylatian crew departed the vicinity of the spaceport, taking its path off from the bustling city and its night lights and flying back into the stars.

* * *

 _16th of Month Seven, 2979 GST – Neutral Space, outskirts of Gateway Alpha Sector._

After the diplomatic meeting, the team returned for the next, mostly uneventful, shipboard days. Not much had happened at the ship itself, and the patrol task on the neutral sector for suspicious activity had yielded little of interest as they were making their way through the attack sites back to the Gateway. As the Joint Initiative reports had mentioned, little evidence of attack or even remains of the ships were to be found at those sites, and no trace of the possible aggressors was to be found.

The crew was growing impatient with the lack of progress and rising inactivity; one officer or the other would leave their station to slack off at the cantina, and others would not even be seen at the CIC by the start of their shifts. Not that James and the rest of the crew lead would mind, however. This time at the CCV Endurance felt more and more like another pointless guard duty than a search mission.

Sully is visibly exhausted, dozing off into space from his station at the CIC. The team and the crew of the CCV Endurance had still found no clues, despite searching with all possible sensor sweeps and investigating every piece of the missing ships that was in working order and could bear some information. Most of the time was spent searching for some evidence the attackers may have left behind.

"…Is that the 'real action' you were so anxious for, Aldo?..." Sully says after a sigh in an exhausted tone, resting his head onto the station desk. "With this morning, it's been five days already, and I'm still waiting to see it…"

"There's really nothing around here… We looked through everything the Initiative might have overlooked and then some, and there was nothing strange about the debris we recovered except for the fact the rest of the ships are entirely missing…" The fox says, flicking a pen off the desk and sinking his head between his arms at the station.

"Gah, I know… I was expecting the attackers to still be around, or at least have left a trail to follow, but all the sites are plain… deserted. Seems like they were really experienced with their hit-and-run tactics, or they made sure to leave no traces." Aldo replies.

At the back of the CIC, the sound of sliding doors catches Aldo's attention. James was checking on the CIC, seemingly having woken up from his sleep not too long before doing so. Rubbing his right hand at the side of his face, he steps out of the elevator to find little more than two of his team and two crew officers at their places.

"Good morning, guys." James greets the others at the CIC, only then realizing the lack of results by seeing the expressions on both Aldo and Sully as they turn to face him. "…Ah. I'm guessing that you still had no luck finding anything unusual with the rest of the crew…"

"No results on any of our scans, Captain." One of the CIC officers announces. "No sign of any attackers, either, and what's left of the missing transports doesn't give any new insight."

"I see… Was this the last recorded disappearance site?" James asks to the officer.

"Yes sir, there were also reports of pirate ship sightings around the region. I doubt they're related, however. Whoever those attackers were, they were good at covering their tracks." She replies.

"Yeah, no kidding, we only had one blip on the sensors, and it was a false alarm. It's definitely not the usual band of pirates if they're after Dust—Our Dust sensors would've caught some trail left behind." Alex comments from the helm station. "I doubt these guys were from Lylat, though. I don't think many people back home would deal with this kind of cover-up so well—or that anyone outside of the Joint Initiative is able to anyway."

"Captain, if I may, there is still a sensor sweep we could attempt to perform." AIDA says.

"Oh, not this again… AIDA, we already went over this, it's too risky, and it's probably not worth it anyway." Alex replies.

"Did I miss anything, Alex?" James asks.

"We were just discussing the possible use of a charged particle burst to aid our survey of the region." The AI explains.

"Eh, I've spent all morning arguing with the toaster here about using the particle burst." The helmsman replies, explaining AIDA's suggestion. "We could create a particle field around our kinetic barriers and, by injecting some matter into our singularity core and redirecting the surplus energy from the core, it would create a quick particle burst. That would reveal anything that's using either known cloaking devices or antimatter drive cores, but the feedback would knock our shields offline for an hour. It's not a good idea to be flying in a sector with reports of pirate ships without some shielding online. Besides, only older ships from the United Empire and Lylatian ship designs use antimatter cores."

"I can see why you're concerned, then. Leave it alone, AIDA." James says. "Whoever did this is probably not sticking around anyway."

"Very well, Captain." The AI replies.

"Gah, you know what, screw this… I'm off to the mess hall." Aldo stands up from his station with a sigh, walking past James and gesturing to the elevator. "Going to get a drink."

"I don't think there's anything I can do here either… I'll check the hangar bay. Maybe tinker with the new fighters." Sully follows Aldo out of the CIC, yawning. "I bet there might be some time for a tweak or two on the engines."

"Alright, I guess I'll catch you two later then." James responds, sitting on the Captain's station as the elevator doors slide shut with the other two inside. Reading over the mostly uneventful ship log of the previous days, he speaks up: "By the way, Alex, have you seen Krystal?"

"She passed by earlier, checked on our results—or lack of thereof—and went down to the labs." The canine replies, looking back over his shoulder at James. "She's probably going under some of those Dust tests at Simon's lab. You wanted to speak to her or something?"

"Not really, I was just wondering where she was." James says. "I suppose we're all done with the sector patrol, so it's best we don't stick around too long and attract the wrong attention. Trace a course back to the Alpha Gateway—we're heading back to Corneria."

"Aye, Captain." Clay replies. "AIDA, you notify the crew; we're all done here."

"Acknowledged."

* * *

"Seems like everything's fine with your readings for now… No abnormal behavior or rejection signs. I think we're done with this scan, Krystal."

Down at the labs, Simon was observing Dust activity within Krystal's body before more of the tests to assess any potential abilities. With her concerns fading from mind, no signs of issues were to be found during any of the scans, and the tests through the days until then provoked no adverse reactions with Krystal's Dust. She gives a sigh of relief, with a visible smile on her face as she steps out of the scanning chamber. Krystal felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"I think it goes without saying, but I feel a lot less worried about this matter now." She says on a more cheerful tone, with her tail wagging to the sides slowly. "It's relieving to know it poses no rejection risks. Is there anything else you can say so far about this Dust though?"

"Oh, about that! It's behaving surprisingly well, actually." Simon says in enthusiasm, proceeding to explain Krystal's condition. "I've read a few research notes about occasions like this, but looks like no complications of any sort have been occurring regarding the Dust growth—instead, it's astounding; it's almost as if the Dust you absorbed is creating a seamless link to your body… This is uncommon on accidental exposures!"

"Though, ah, of course overstressing is still an issue in the way, so be mindful of that if you have to use your abilities for extended lengths of time, but you should have a higher activity threshold before the nanomachines begin to show abnormal behavior or overheat." Simon continues, reviewing the results so far. "I have to say, Krystal: you definitely have good potential to become an Adept!"

"Thanks, that sounds pretty nice." She replies, slightly flattered. "You also mentioned the other day, if everything went well we could start training for minor electronic interfacing through Dust here at the lab, isn't that right?"

"Sure, that much we can do for now." Simon nods, proceeding to walk over to a counter he left some datapads at. "I think we can leave more neural shock practice for another time if you want to learn handling electronics. Now, let's see… Say, ever had trouble with security drones and things of that sort during your missions?"

"Sometimes, yes." Krystal replies. "What of it?"

"I think you might have some use for this training, then." Simon continues, walking over to a storage room at the other side of the laboratory, bringing back a small repair drone on his hands and placing it on a table near to Krystal.

"I'll be powering this small maintenance drone so we can begin. We'll be using it as a target dummy, and you'll use Dust to jam its sensors. It's a little more difficult than just sending a shock at someone's nerve system, but the base principle is similar." He does so, inputting commands into his datapad, and stepping away to let Krystal approach the table as the drone hovers above it with a slight humming. "It's outdated, but it should be in working order. Now, let's see… For starters, you'll need to use your Dust to 'feel out' the electronics as your systems interface with the drone. It seems this varies with each individual, but I'm sure you'll know when you 'see' it, so to speak."

Krystal looks at him and nods. She approaches the drone while holding her right hand open next to the drone in the air. A slight glow of Dust patterns is visible at her paw pads.

Her eyes examine the hovering construct, with the Dust patterns reappearing on her irises. Shortly after, Krystal begins to notice signs of this 'Dust sense' in glowing circuit-like pattern that form at the drone's internal circuitry, visible through its metallic shell. She finds what seems to be the drone's sensor module, and with a wave of her hand, a small wisp of Dust jolts away from her palm into the drone, disabling its sensors and causing it to hover aimlessly into a wall at the other side of the room.

"Ah, looks like you understood how it works, that's quite nice." Simon comments as he sees Krystal's abilities in action. "It's a relatively simple ability, but useful when you need to throw off a drone of some sort or a security mech. I believe you can also override their sensors to feed false data, if you need a distraction somewhere."

"Interesting, I bet I'll be able to put that to use eventually." She comments. "Anything else that we can go for at this time?"

"Yes, in fact, this one might have better combat usage as well. Since some areas of your brain and your eyes also have Dust presence, improvements in your reaction time and reflexes also…"

Simon continued his explanation of how the newfound Dust abilities could apply for Krystal. Continuing more in a theoretical side of his explanation, Krystal listened attentively to his lecture. Now that the concerns of a potential hazard were laid to rest, she could concentrate both on the mission, and the ability training ahead.

The rest of that day bore little noteworthy, with no surprises during the rest of the voyage and at a stop for refueling and warp core discharge. At that point, James and the rest of the crew had been clear of most duties, and would only later need to return to their combat stations.

During the rest of that day, the team spent some time at their activities, getting acquainted with the rest of the crew as the time went by. The enthusiastic crew was amazed by all the stories the StarFox team had in the past, and most idolized the teammembers as the best soldiers of all of Lylat. Between wild, imaginative rumors and gossip, it wasn't difficult to see how their fame had gotten their name around.

James spent most of his time at the CIC captaining the ship and supervising activities, but went down to the crew decks to get better acquainted with the other officers and check on how the others were doing. Aldo had spent most of that free time chatting up with the other officers at the cantina, while Sully was checking on the new Arwing upgrades. Krystal was absent from the crew decks and the CIC, studying the newfound Dust skills aided by Simon and practicing with them for further use.

* * *

The next day, shortly after the shipboard noon, they'd arrived at the Gateway Alpha. Back at the CIC, the team had collected their findings and results—or lack of thereof—for a later debriefing back at Corneria. Alex had just opened a comms channel with Gateway control, requesting transit.

"Gateway control, CCV Endurance II reporting arrival." Alex announces over the comms screen. "We're requesting clearance for transit: our mission has been concluded; returning to Lylat."

"Roger that, CCV Endurance, stand by for clearance. The Joint Initiative has been getting quite a bit of activity through the Gateway, hasn't it? More and more ships have been passing since the last few days."

"More ships? Huh… I see." Alex comments. His tone changes, with an expression of doubt for a few moments. "Standing by."

The Gateway performs its spectacular powerup process, with the arcing jolts of energy, the particle fields and the spatial distortion seen between both dishes of the gateway. As the distortion is formed, the CCV Endurance is granted clearance and accelerates towards the wormhole, speeding through the spatial distortion and arriving back at their galaxy of origin.

The starship continues its flight, after leaving the vicinity of the gateway, the crew begins its preparations for the next jump, but Clay seems to have something on his mind. During his helm duties he shifts his attention to also review some of the Joint Initiative transport logs from his officer station.

"Something wrong, Alex?" James notices as Alex searches rapidly on the ship's database, and speaks up in curiosity, looking over to the helm officer.

"Not really, Captain, but I'm not really sure about the info we just heard from Gateway Alpha control…" The canine explains, stopping his search after finding a transport and escort schedule from the Initiative to compare with the transit logs, and sending the data to the captain's computer. "Here, have a look at this. The schedules here say that some transports were to be sent to Lylat alright, but not this soon, and the number of ships that passed doesn't match the schedule. Something's very wrong here, Captain."

"Are you sure, Alex?"

"Well, the schedule doesn't have any changes since the start of our mission, and the Gateway logs don't lie, Captain." Alex replies.

"James, do you think it's…" Krystal slips up for a moment, but then stops mid-sentence. It would be better to not reveal the truth about the Schermer just now.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" He says, tapping fingers anxiously at the captain's chair arm for a few moments. James then decides to issue an order to the crew, sending a crew notice over the crew intercom:

"All hands, this is Captain McCloud. We have signs of suspicious activity on the sector towards Lylat—All officers, be ready for alert status, out."

"Are we expecting some action, Captain?" The helmsman asks.

"I'd rather not take any chances." James says, equipping his scouter. "Engineering, how long until we are ready to jump?"

"Five more minutes until the core is readied, captain." The response comes from the intercom.

"Good, we should be heading back to Lylat ASAP. Prepare a full warp speed jump."

A few short minutes pass as the drive charges, and the ship is filled with an air of uncertainty and the officers prepare for alert at their stations. The starship performs its jump from the Gateway on its course back to the Lylatian homeworld at full speed, quickly leaving the far sectors behind.


	6. Chapter IV: Under Siege

**Chapter IV: Under Siege**

"We'll be arriving at Corneria shortly, Captain." AIDA announces at the CIC, with the blue-shifted space outside of the CCV Endurance rapidly zooming by during the warp travel.

"Open a communication link with the CDF headquarters as soon as we're out of warp." James responds, somewhat tense.

"James, don't you think you're being a little paranoid? The mission's basically over at this point, and we didn't find any aggressors either on the patrol on the way towards Viacherus or at the survey points." Aldo says, not understanding James' visible concern. "I wouldn't worry too much if I were on your place."

"Duly noted, Aldo." He replies. "I'll explain everything as soon as—"

The starship drops out of warp before James finishes his statement; Alert lights and sounds break the peace in CIC as the craft arrives at a battlescene in Corneria's orbit. Tremors from incoming fire spread across the ship, with the officers across all decks stopping their duties to help with ship defense, as numerous fighter craft fly past the starboard bow while engaged in combat.

"All hands, alert status! We're engaged with an enemy force! Defend our ship!" James promptly announces over the intercom, activating and syncing his scouter with the ship's sensors, looking around the CIC viewscreens to assess the threats.

The crew rapidly responds to the command, with the ship shields gaining full power and the weapons powering up. As the enemy fire becomes negated and countered, the crew leads realize that this attack is no single rogue ship, but an organized enemy fleet. The attacking ships were in a skirmish with Cornerian vessels, but the Cornerian ships were enduring damage and stress. They wouldn't be able to defend the planet without fleet losses.

"AIDA, give us a damage report of the ship!" Krystal quickly issues some commands into her station's console, analyzing the enemy presence ahead with the ship's sensors.

"Multiple hits at the port bow, light external damage sustained. Kinetic barriers up at 93%." AIDA replies.

"Tactical appraisal—I want all enemy ships in range marked. What are we up against?" James orders targeting to focus fire on a frigate turning ahead of the CCV Endurance. The enemy ship escapes–though only barely–by accelerating to full speed. A salvo of heavy cannon fire hits the frigate, with trailing smoke and fire leaking from the damaged craft.

"There are 87—no, 86 large ships against the CDF fleet, and their ship profile… James, these ships are unmarked, but they have United Empire hulls!" Krystal responds, with the AR displays of the CIC being dotted by the multitude of large and small craft markers as the sensors pick up the vessels.

"What the hell's going on?! We need to get to Ford about this, and fast!" James exclaims.

"Captain, we are unable to open a commlink with the Division Omega. Attempting contact with the nearest capital ship."

A communications channel is opened between one of the CDF heavy cruisers and the CCV Endurance. The commanding officer onscreen quickly recognizes the reputable James McCloud, and addresses him during the attack. Visible warning lights and military staff are seen on the background of the comms screen.

"James McCloud? I'm glad to see you made it back to Corneria in time—we couldn't contact your ship until now. This is Rear Admiral Harold Fletcher of the CCV Argus, with the 3rd Fleet." The Cornerian admiral, a wolf, salutes James in a hurry, quickly proceeding to explain the situation at Corneria. "Let's spare formalities for now. Things don't look very good for the fleet, McCloud. Eight hours ago, an aggressor fleet with 104 ships has jumped into Cornerian space out of the blue; their ship profiles are unlike anything we've seen before, and all we know is that their weaponry is definitely advanced. Our fleets are holding, but we're suffering losses."

"How bad are the losses so far, Admiral?" James inquiries.

"36% of the 3rd Fleet has been destroyed or rendered inoperable, so for now the fleet can only count on 98 vessels. We've been mobilizing reinforcements since we detected the attackers, but some of them have managed to slip through our defenses, including what seems like their command ship." The admiral continues. The battle outside the CCV Endurance rages on, with some fighters of the opposing force being shot down by anti-aircraft barrages and point-defense artillery from the ships. Several Cornerian fighters chase down a bomber at near a Cornerian frigate, but are shot down by a fast enemy squadron.

"Even worse, some of their cruisers are attacking densely-populated areas of Corneria. Evacuation of civilians from the attack sites is in progress, but we've lost track of their command ship." Fletcher continues.

"What kind of command ship we're talking about? A cruiser, heavy cruiser maybe?" James asks.

"Their commanding ship, Captain, it is… A dreadnought-class ship, I'm afraid." Fletcher replies.

"…How do you lose track of a dreadnought…?"

"We don't know what happened for certain. They must be masking their energy signature or using some sort of advanced cloaking technology." The admiral replies in a worried tone. Outside, one of the enemy frigates is taken down by intense fire, with a spectacular explosion of its core "Either way, it would be imprudent to attack their ship head-on without anything other than another dreadnought or a capable fighter force with expert pilots."

"I see… Admiral! We're ready for orders—where should the take the CCV Endurance? Should we stay and help with orbital defense?" James says towards the comms screen.

"Negative, we'll be sending the CCV Endurance down to the planetary airspace. We have another task that would probably benefit from some superior firepower, and you're the best allied unit deployed with a ship anywhere near that size." The response is heard from the Cornerian admiral.

"Roger that, Admiral. We'll proceed with caution." The fox replies.

"Good. I'll brief your tear the task once you're at cruise altitude." Fletcher says.

Meanwhile, the CCV Endurance had already banked off from the battlescene to head down into the planet. A couple small ships tried to intercept it, but were met with suppressing fire from both the aft turrets in the CCV Endurance and covering fire from the CDF fleet, being forced to retreat. Later at full speed, the team's starship created a bright trail of fire as its fast reentry tore through the atmosphere.

* * *

The blazes surrounding the CCV Endurance slowly dissipate as the atmospheric drag brings the ship down to supersonic speeds. Flying at high altitude overseas, preparations for a fighter craft launch were almost complete. Dense white clouds obscured the heights closer to the ocean as the ship cruised up above at the clear skies.

Inside the ship, the team was being briefed on Corneria's situation. The viewscreens had switched to the tactical view, displaying the region maps for the attack sites and live feed from Cornerian military.

"Good, looks like you'll be ready to deploy soon. Here's our current status." Admiral Fletcher is once again on the viewscreen. "We have two enemy cruisers en route to New Ellinburg with four frigates as escorts. Evacuation is still not complete, but to give them enough time, we will be sending the CCV Endurance for combat support with the 1st Fleet forces heading to that area. Tell your crew to be on high alert, though—we have the feeling that the enemy dreadnought was headed that way and must be hidden somewhere."

"Any other tasks?" James says, leaning forth on the captain's chair.

"Yes, Captain McCloud. A major aerial engagement is taking place over Corneria City as we speak. Several tactical fighter squadrons have been scrambled to respond to the enemy aircraft, and there are currently 54 targets in the AO. Our current forces are comprised of 46 fighters, and we would have the upper hand in this engagement with your team in charge of holding air superiority." Fletcher explains.

"So, the CCV Endurance will provide combat support against the cruisers, and our team will try to achieve air superiority at Corneria City. Got it." James acknowledges.

"Affirmative. StarFox, you have your mission. We'll hold back any enemy vessels trying to reach to the planet or engage pursuit with your vessel. Good luck, StarFox. Fletcher out."

"Alex, trace a course to intercept the targets at New Ellinburg! We'll launch our fighter squadron as soon as we're at supercruise altitude, then we'll split up and head to Corneria City." As soon as the comm channel closes, James gets up from the captain's chair, and paces out of the CIC into the crew elevator, waiting for the rest of his team. "Come on, let's get going!"

* * *

Inside the ship, James and the others had already moved to the hangar bay. The four crew leads exited the elevator, prepared to scramble in their flight suits. The spacious interior of the hangar bay, illuminated by several strip lights on the ceiling and walls had a distinct sterile white glow. The sheer size of the ship's hangar bays allowed it to launch a fair number of fighters—more than needed for the team in this case, but only the StarFox team would launch at this time.

At the hangar, the team's craft of choice for this flight was the _Space Dynamics XF-55_ Arwing Mk. III. Superior in every form to all of its predecessors, the new fighter craft was painted in platinum-white of royal blue trim, with its sleeker design, improved control surfaces, new canard design, thrust vectoring and lightweight materials granting superb maneuverability on the air, while at the same time, the addition of twin rear engines to increase its top speed in all combat scenarios.

Their new armament consisted of twin _GFU-14 Justicar_ rotary autocannons built into the wings of the fighter craft, supplied with 30mm armor-piercing alloy rounds that made a frightening display of power when fired. The loadout was complemented with high-speed, quick-maneuver air-to-air miniaturized missiles launched from internal missile bays. Additionally, an internal weapons bay on the underside of its hull provided four _ALM-83M Talon_ multi-warhead missiles.

The four fighters were in position to launch at the hangar bay of the CCV Endurance II, each attached to one of the four fighter catapults. The lead mechanic is heard speaking up, telling the rest of the technicians and mechanics to clear the launch bay, while signaling all-clear to the technicians on a control room up ahead. The mass drivers of the catapults begin to power up, while the pilots climb into their fighters, and rotating beacon lights signal the opening of the hangar bay blast doors soon after, with gusts of wind blowing in from the high speeds of the CCV Endurance.

Similar to the new CCV Endurance, the interior of the renewed fighters relied on AR viewscreens around the pilot's field of view, with a 360-degree view of created by cameras placed on the exterior of the aircraft. As James closes the canopy and begins the powerup of his craft, the blue lights of the fighter's systems fill the interior with a slight illuminated tint. Shortly after, the viewscreens display the exterior, revealing the bay doors already fully open; bright blue skies ahead, clouds below.

* * *

"James here—comm check." He says, adjusting his scouter and earpiece. "All systems here look ready to launch, what about you guys?"

"Aldo here, everything loud and clear." Aldo's voice is heard over the radio. "Fully loaded here and ready to scramble, autocannons ready to do some damage."

"Everything looks solid here." Krystal says shortly afterwards. "I'm adjusting the control surfaces and COG system for launch."

Halfway through the launch checklist, James hears a mission update alert over the radio.

"Captain, we've just got a warning from the 3rd Fleet—Looks like some enemy fighters managed to slip through their defenses and are on an intercept course for the CCV Endurance." Alex says, with the enemies in pursuit appearing on the fighter's radar screen. "We can't afford to waste any time in our course to New Ellinburg. Transmitting data to your fighters now."

"Copy that, Alex; we'll go after them as soon as we launch." James replies. "Sully, everything ready there?"

"Almost, I just need to make some adjustments to the power draw." Sully replies while syncing his scouter with the Arwing's computers.

"I'll go on ahead; you guys join formation once you're in the air. Aldo, launching." Aldo says. The roar of the engines grows louder before the mass driver propels Aldo's ship ahead. Soon after, Sully's fighter raises its throttle.

"Okay—all done here!" Sully announces in enthusiasm, increasing his fighter's throttle rapidly. "Sully, launching!"

"Everything's ready here, James. I'll be waiting for you to get in the air." Krystal says over the radio. "Good luck… Krystal, launching!" Krystal's fighter launches with the loud engines' roar echoing inside the launch bay, contrails and vapor forming on its wings as it cuts through the air on its way out.

The last fighter to launch belonged to James. Looking at the panels and screens within the cabin, holding the flight stick with his right hand, as little but the sound of his breathing and the hum of the idle engines can be heard, he pushes the throttle level to maximum with his left hand, his fighter shaking before the mass driver propels his Arwing forward.

 _It's good to be back..._ He thinks.

 _Time to show these guys what we can do._

"…James, launching!"

* * *

The CCV Endurance's mass driver boosts James' Arwing straight into flight speed, the dark metallic tones of the fighter bay almost instantly giving place to the blinding white and azure tones of the Cornerian skies. His fighter's displays soon switch into flight mode, with the CCV Endurance flying overhead, ripping the thin clouds on its way.

James pulls back the throttle level, and opens the Arwing's airbrakes before banking it to the left, pulling a full turn to change his heading into the opposite direction. Throttling up again to join the others in formation, James takes the front position, the sun reflecting at the platinum-white of the Arwing's hull.

The radar systems of the Arwing blip in a repeating pattern every few seconds as the pursuing fighters approach the StarFox in a direct intercept course.

"Looks like we've got their attention." James says, leaving the autocannons on armed position. "Krystal, how many of them are we dealing with?"

"There are seven targets—four fighters, two attackers and a light gunship incoming." Krystal replies. "They've got the upper hand on numbers here. What's our plan?"

"Break formation and disperse once we engage. We should try to draw the fighter escort away from the gunship and take it down with the attackers." James gives the order, using his scouter to locate the pursuers among the clouds.

"Got a visual here, guys; bandits approaching fast." Aldo pushes his fighter to full speed, heading straight onto the fighter escort's route. "Aldo, engaging."

"Sully, Krystal, you take care of the gunship and the attackers, we'll keep the escorts busy." James breaks off from formation, flying overhead and throttling up to gain height against the enemy fighters. "James, engaging."

"Copy that. Krystal, engaging." Krystal's fighter banks to the right with a thin vapor forming on the wings, contrails being drawn on the air. She accelerates, gaining speed to circle around the incoming group. "I'll try and flank the enemies if I can. Sully, cover me."

"Roger that; Sully, engaging!"

* * *

The four fighters head towards the group in their spread formation, the incoming fighters changing their heading, and separating to engage.

"Looks like the target sent out some escorts." One of the pilots is heard over the comms. "Berkut 3, we have any intel on these guys?"

"Berkut 3 to Berkut 1, it's them; the fighters are the StarFox squadron."

"The 'aces of Lylat'. You all know what we're dealing with here. Don't underestimate these guys. Berkut 1, breaking and engaging."

The enemy formation's leader climbs to pursue James, the rest of the fighter escort taking sharp turns, drawing contrails on the air with the afterburner exhaust leaving a distinct orange tint right behind their fighters.

The incoming fighter is spotted by James. His Arwing goes into afterburner, head-on against the enemy leader. He aligns the Arwing's sights right onto the enemy plane. At the same time missile lock warnings are heard in his Arwing, James locks missiles of his own onto the target and launches two at a time.

"James, missile launch!" James says, breaking right with his Arwing as soon as his missiles are in flight. The enemy fighter pulls sharp maneuvers and launches flares behind, tailing James afterwards. It fires the main guns onto James' direction, projectiles leaving tracers behind while James attempts to evade the hail of rounds.

"Dammit, I missed. Aldo, get this guy off me!" James exclaims, trying to lose the enemy fighter.

"I'll do what I can, James—but I've got my hands full here!" Aldo replies, attempting to land hits on his target while dodging incoming fire at the same time. "I'll have to give it to these guys—they aren't making it easy to stay out of their sights!"

"Any help is welcome, I got the feeling these guys aren't being paid to let targets get away." James continues, then noticing another missile alert on his radar. "Agh, dammit, missile incoming!"

James rolls and pulls a tight half-loop with the Arwing while launching one of the fighter's flares upwards to divert the missile, with an explosion and cloud of fumes being left behind by the blast. The small skirmish in the Cornerian skies leaves a number of contrails, exhaust fumes and smoke clouds spreading as the fighters tangle with one another. Pushing the throttle to full, James performs an upwards spiral to tail the enemy fighter.

"Alright, I think I got his tail now." James closes in with the opponent, spinning up his Arwing's autocannons. "Gun range, firing!"

Leading the target, James fires the main cannons, the multitude of shells flying forwards the enemy leaving behind an incandescent trail of tracers. The enemy fighter turns to the side in an attempt to evade, still pursued by James. The shower of projectiles manages to land some hits, but no substantial damage is done. A thin trail of gray smoke is drawn in the air while James pursues the leader of the enemy squadron for another attack.

"This is Berkut 4—Berkut 1, are you okay?" The radio chatter is heard during the crossfire. "Their squadron is resisting—the Major didn't warn us about any capable fighters on their side. What should we do?"

"I took a hit, but I can still fly." The squadron leader replies. "Use caution when engaging their squad leader—this one might be just too much trouble for what he's worth. Don't let them get to your tails."

Meanwhile, during a series rolls and spirals in an attempt to escape his pursuer, Aldo manages to flee for just enough time to fire several rounds towards his previous target. A trail of black smoke is seen from its main engine, and not too long after, Aldo fires a missile at the enemy fighter; a direct hit on the target, now trailing a thick cloud of smoke as its right wing and engines are set on fire.

"This is Berkut 3, I'm hit! I see flames—ejecting!"

The enemy pilot ejects from his fighter after its canopy blasts open, with the trail of fire and smoke splitting into two as the right wing breaks apart from the airframe with a small explosion

"We've just lost one of our guys! Damned animals." One of the pilots exclaims over the radio. "Berkut 1, this is Berkut 2, I'm moving in to cover you!"

"Copy that—Looks like separating was a bad idea." The squadron leader replies, escaping James' target leading and throttling up, flying out of missile lock range. "Gryphon Squadron, what's your status?"

"Gryphon Two here—these guys are fast. Gryphon 1 was caught off-guard, they had to bail out—and Gunship Gamma has taken some damage." The pilot in the other squadron is heard over the radio, over the fire of turrets and cannons. "Berkut Squadron, their ship is getting away; we'll have better chances to attack it together. We're returning to formation."

"Acknowledged. Stay in defensive against these guys—they got one of us here as well."

The enemy attacker and the gunship bank off from their separate flight paths to rejoin the fighter escort, with the turrets on both firing anti-air shells attempting to hit Krystal and Sully as they're in pursuit.

"Krystal here—James, they're regrouping; watch out for AA shells once their heavy ships close in." She says, turning to reengage the attacker.

"Got it." James replies, breaking and turning around to join his other teammate. "Aldo, I'm headed your way. How are things on your side?"

"I managed to get one of these guys, but I sure could use a hand getting these other guys off my six. Think you can help me with that?" The blue bird says.

James pushes his Arwing's throttle into afterburner, the loud roar of the engines announcing his arrival as he climbs, tailing the two fighters as they pursue Aldo. They're closely lined up—giving the perfect opportunity to try and hit them with a multi-warhead missile. James switches to his secondary weapon bay, locking both of the enemies with one missile.

"James, launching Talons!" He exclaims, firing a missile at the enemy fighters.

The missile darts away from James' Arwing with a large exhaust in almost an instant, fast approaching the targets. Nearing the enemy fighters, the missile separates into four smaller projectiles, two headed into each enemy fighter and drawing thin white exhaust trails on their path.

Two of the missiles hit one of the fighters successfully despite its evasion, with the entire rear of the fighter exploding, its fuel reserves leaking and burning in a fiery trail with the rest of the aircraft falling down to the shorelines.

"Agh, I've lost control! Berkut 4, bailing out!" The last messages are heard from one of the pilots before the canopy opens for his escape.

At the same time, the other fighter is able to evade one of the missiles by using flares, but after a short pursuit, the second missile hits it on the underside. The explosion deals considerable damage to its engines and hull, and a large trail of gray smoke is visible. The damaged fighter banks out of pursuit, flying away from both James' and Aldo's Arwings.

"Damn, weapons offline—and controls aren't responding! This is Berkut 2; I gotta pull out!"

"Enemy craft totaled! Looks like the other one is neutralized as well." James says. "Let's get the rest of them."

Near the gunship, Sully attempts to draw in the anti-air fire from the turrets, evading the burst shells.

"Krystal, hurry up with these guys—I can't dodge them forever!" he says, rolling with his Arwing for an underside pass at the gunship.

"I'm on it, just a little bit more..!" Krystal says, almost locked onto the enemy attacker while at a high speed chase.

However, during her chase, Krystal only hears a missile warning too late—the squadron leader that had fled from James earlier managed to lock a missile onto her 5 'o-clock.

The missile alerts on her Arwing's cabin turn the displays red. In a fit of adrenaline, Krystal reacts by pulling tight barrel roll, barely evading the missile. The high G-force of the turn presses Krystal onto the back of her seat, to Krystal's clear discomfort.

Krystal doesn't think twice before pushing her fighter's thrust into maximum, making a downward turn to quickly reengage the attacker craft. She's able to line up the attacker and the gunship behind it, firing one of the secondary missiles at both of them once locked.

"Krystal, Talons launched!" She exclaims, avoiding a linear flight by climbing as soon as the missile is in flight.

Her missile separates, two of the projectiles impacting directly onto the side of the attacker, one being shot down by flak, and the last one hitting the side of the gunship. Unlike the attacker, the gunship retains its altitude despite the damage taken, with one of the turrets being damaged beyond function.

"This is Gryphon Two—we've taken damage, can't maintain altitude!" The attacker's pilot says over the radio as his craft plummets towards the shoreline.

"Gunship Gamma to all frequencies—is any of us still in the air?!" The gunship pilot switches his transmission to all frequencies of his radio in hopes that some of his allies could still receive him.

"Berkut 1 here—they've downed the rest of my squadron." The remaining pilot replies. "This isn't worth the trouble anymore—disengage and return to our fleet."

"This is James McCloud with the Cornerian Defense Force. Whoever you're working for, I suggest that you and the rest of your people turn back now." With all frequencies open, James is able to send a message to the retreating enemies. "We don't take kindly to unprovoked attacks in our system—and you can bet The Initiative will get to the bottom of this."

"Damn you, Initiative dogs!" the gunship pilot exclaims, disgruntled at the outcome. "This isn't over!"

"We'll make sure it is real soon." Aldo replies, closing the channel, and then banking to rejoin the formation.

"All enemy craft neutralized or shot down; radar is clear." Krystal says, being tailed closely by Sully as she rejoins the formation. "Looks like we're done here, James. What's our next move?"

"We should move on to Corneria City as soon as possible." He replies, throttling up to maximum and setting the flight mode to cruise while changing his direction. "Once we're there, we'll establish air superiority."

* * *

The sound of jet engines echoes across the Cornerian skies during the team's flight into the mainland. They were little over one hour away from the capital before they had received an alert from the Defense Force's network on the situation at the capital.

"James here, looks like we're getting near our AO." James announces to his team over the comms. "The Cornerian Defense Force network just sent an alert for all combat-capable units to divert air support towards the capital. They've instructed all allied craft to use Corneria City's regional military comm frequency for this operation."

"Got it. Switching frequencies to 280.96." Aldo says, switching to the regional frequency.

"This is James McCloud with the StarFox Squadron to the Cornerian Defense Force—we're on approach to Corneria City, awaiting further instructions." James says. "Allied Cornerian craft, please respond."

"This is AWACS _Adlerauge_ with the 1st Central Defense Wing, we copy. StarFox Squadron, we will be providing operational support for your mission." The operator in one of the allied ships replies to James on the radio.

"We're currently en route to Corneria City's airspcace, ETA 50 minutes." James continues. "Give us an overview of the current situation on the AO."

"Roger that. Transmitting data for in-flight briefing." A window in the Arwing's viewscreens appears, the tactical map and radar quickly updating with IFF readings and the current unit statuses.

"At 11:43 Capital Time, the Cornerian Defense Force's 3rd Fleet had issued a full alert status to the planetary space after engaging with an unidentified hostile fleet. After three hours of conflict, a warning was sent from the fleet informing of hostile ships heading to densely-populated areas." the officer speaks from the Adlerauge. "While the Defense Force lost track of what seemed like their command vessel, we were able to deploy ships as a defensive act—now en-route to the attack sites. Meanwhile, a large enemy air unit has mobilized and began an attack above civilian zones in Corneria City's airspace."

"The current status at Corneria City's airspace is of a tight dispute between the Cornerian fighters and the enemy force. Other allied air reinforcements are on their way to the area and an anti-air armored platoon has been mobilized; however, civilian shuttles are evacuating citizens who were not able to leave the area via the high-speed transit systems and public transport. Your squadron will move in to provide tactical coordination and reestablish air superiority on the area, while the allied forces are tasked to defend the shuttles as they leave the hot zone."

"Understood—we'll make sure the shuttles evacuate safely."

* * *

At Corneria City, the roaring sound of jet engines and explosions in the battle above echoed for miles as the remaining civilians below attempted to leave the area. The local authorities on the ground struggled to maintain order as the most panicked citizens rushed into the transport shuttles. The commotion around the most crowded areas drowned most of the intelligible speech, save for the instructions being given by the police and civil defense officers.

"To all remaining civilians—please evacuate the area in an orderly manner! The CDF reinforcements are coming to provide cover to the evacuation, but we need you to cooperate!" An officer says over the emergency broadcast system. At the main room of the civil defense center, the coordination was made a difficult task as both the air battle above and the civilians below were of concern.

"Chief Connors of the CCPD here—evacuation of the central sector and the Commercial District is almost complete. We're boarding the police choppers to assist their escort out." The police chief's voice is heard among the radio chatter. "Civil Protection, what's the progress on residential blocks 56 and 58?"

"We had a situation to deal with over here, but a full shuttle is departing now!" the officer shouts over the background noise of the shuttle's engines. "The air battle looks like a mess from here—I don't think it's a good idea to fly a helicopter right now! What's the ETA on those reinforcements?"

"The CDF's AA platoon will be arriving shortly, and five minutes until the first reinforcement squadron arrives… StarFox, no less." the chief replies. "Leave the enemy fighters to them—focus on helping those civilians!"

The anti-air units took their positions in the city's skyways while some of the enemy fighters attempted a low-altitude pass to attack the CDF forces. Although some are diverted and escape, the enemy fighters that were shot down crash into the buildings of the city, with gray fumes and fire clouding the city's skyline.

As the team approached the city's airspace, the distinct roar of the Arwing engines blended into the battle's noise.

* * *

"James McCloud to AWACS Adlerauge, we're entering the mission area now." James pushes the flight stick to tilt his craft's nose down, the rest of his squadron following. "I can see the civilian craft from here—turning to engage enemy fighters."

"Copy that; get our people away safely. StarFox, cleared to engage."

After the dive, the team splits up to engage enemies with the rest of the allied fighters. James throttles up for a high-speed pass over an enemy craft turning towards the shuttles.

"James, engaging!" he says, firing the Arwing's cannons and shooting down the enemy before pulling up and tailing one of the allied fighters.

"This is Azure 4—good timing, StarFox!" The allied pilot says after James' swift attack. "Glad to have you on our side today—we're holding these guys off, but I'm not sure if we'd be able to get all civilians out safe without some help."

"Your team and the others did a good job so far, Azure 4." James replies. "We'll take it from here on this area—tell the allied teams to regroup and coordinate under our command."

Afterwards, Krystal fires another of the Talon missiles at a group of three enemies; two of which take moderate damage from the missiles, while the third loses control and spins as it falls, plummeting into the city.

"Damn… I haven't seen a battle this large over Corneria City ever since the Second Venomian Offensive…" Aldo says, while pulling a turn with his Arwing to assist one of the Cornerian allies pursuing an enemy fighter. "These civ shuttles should better hurry."

"James, this is Sully, I think I might have something worth checking out." The young voice is heard over the radio, with a data uplink being activated on James' Arwing. "I ran some scans on the enemy ships we've engaged so far, and I found something in common with them. Their propulsion system is configured for maximum efficiency—but there's a possible flaw on their fuel lines that we can exploit. Attacking their engines directly or hitting the fuel lines on the top of the hull can ignite or cut off their fuel reserves."

"Nice find, Sully—good to see you're still sharp." James says, opening the comms with the allied fighters. "All Cornerian forces, this is James. We've found a possible tactical exploit on the enemy fighters. Transmitting data through the AWACS uplink; apply changes to your targeting systems accordingly."

The engagement above the city rages on with losses on both sides painting the sky with fiery trails and fumes—black and grey alike. Down at the skyways, the armored platoon had positioned and was readying the AA batteries.

"Armored platoon to all allied forces on the air—we're in position and will begin anti-air fire shortly!" An alert is sent across the allied forces' fighters with the message. "Watch out for fire from below!"

"All shells, rounds and SAMs in the platoon are loaded! Begin cover fire!" A soldier exclaims at the ground as the multitude of shell trails is drawn from the surface. Several shell bursts damage the enemy ships while other sorts of tracers were seen flying towards the enemy forces. Meanwhile, surface-to-air missiles are launched, with the bright orange flares from the enemy being launched to divert their course.

More enemy fighters are hit in the process, although they manage to bring down some allied craft before being shot down. The fire and smoke painted the sky, with the afternoon sun shining from behind the scattered clouds up high. Despite the heavy resistance, the enemies still continued to push against the Cornerian forces.

"What the hell is this?! The predicted losses were lower than 25%—but we're being slaughtered here!" one of the pilots exclaims to his teammates about the ongoing debacle. "Kord 6 here—what happened to our chain of command?"

"This is Meteor 2—Kord leader and Meteor leader have been shot down, and Grim units 4 through 8 are down." A response is heard on the radio. "I'm still—agh, hell! I just got hit by anti-air fire, losing cabin pressure!"

"Kord 6, this is Kord 2, we've just got a report from our recon craft. Two waves of enemy reinforcements are on their way." Another pilot speaks. "It's clear we had some bad intel. I'm starting to think we should disengage."

"Call our reinforcements instead! We're going to lose every fighter in the air if this keeps up." The nervous pilot speaks again.

Not too long after the StarFox team's arrival, the tide of battle had turned onto Corneria's favor. Coordinating the allied units and making precise strikes, the civilian evacuation was following smoothly without any downed transport ships.

The weave of contrails and tracers crowded the skies above the city adding to the several columns of smoke from the downed craft and the city. Through the conflict, another group of enemies is shot down.

"Krystal here, I had some strange readings on my sensors for a moment. Did anyone else see that radar blip?" She says, banking off from one of the fighters she neutralized.

"This is Lightning 1 to Krystal, nothing unusual on my screen." An allied squad leader replies. "It could be some sort of jamming device. AWACS, have you got anything?"

"Positive on those readings, but we couldn't get a fix on the position." The AWACS support craft officer says. "Be on the lookout for any jammer-equipped enemies."

"Will do. What's the current status on those shuttles?" Krystal continues searching for the radar oddities, joining with a few allied fighters to pursue another enemy group.

"One of the shuttles took a few rounds, but looks like there were only a few light injuries on the passengers. Everything else is going smoothly; enemy combat effectiveness is down to 40%." the Adlerauge's officer is heard again. "An air reinforcement group is also on the way. Proceed with keeping air superiority."

"Roger that, Adlerauge." Krystal replies.

* * *

As the battle dragged on, the situation seemed to have taken positive turn for the Cornerians. The enemy fighters were being slowly but steadily neutralized or destroyed, and despite having sustained considerable losses, the defenders were gaining the upper hand on the battle.

The city had taken only taken some damage from the conflict, albeit the several sources of fire and smoke were still glaring on the otherwise clear skyline.

"Aldo to all allied units; something's wrong, the enemies are backing off from us." Aldo speaks over the radio, worried about the suspicious retreat of some enemies, however. "Did we get their squad leaders or anything?"

"Archer 4 here; the sound of gunfire is dying down. Looks like we held them off." The voice of an allied pilot is heard on the comms.

"This is Adlerauge—our units have reported their squad leaders have been shot down and all shuttles are outside of the AO, but we've just picked up another strange radar contact. Stand by for confirmation."

A few moments of idle flight pass with the Cornerian units regrouping with their squadrons. The makeup of the allied forces had several missing craft—both downed and neutralized, however, a substantial amount remained.

James gives a sigh of relief, rubbing his right hand on his forehead to wipe off some sweat. As it would seem, no enemy reinforcements were in sight.

The short moment of calm and peace, however, is broken by the sound of an emergency alert from the AWACS craft.

"Warning, warning! All squadrons—enemy ballistic missile incoming! Evasive maneuvers!"

"What!? AWACS, which way to break!?" James exclaims as he requests directions.

"Missile is inbound from north, estimated blast radius: eight kilometers; ETA 40 seconds!" The AWACS officer replies promptly.

"No time to waste, guys— come on, clear the blast zone!" Aldo says, turning his Arwing to the south and speeding up with the fighter's afterburners, followed by the allied fighters and the rest of his team.

"Archer 4 to Archer 3! Hurry up—you're falling behind!" A pilot says to his teammate as the rest of the squadron leaves ahead.

"It's no use—I've taken engine damage!" The other pilot replies.

"Ballistic missile impact in 10 seconds!.." The warning is heard over the radio. "Five, four, three, two, one… impact!"

A blinding flash of light is seen to the north of the fighters, followed by a deafening blast and a shockwave. The controls on all fighters are affected as some are pushed off-course by the shockwave, recovering a few seconds after.

"Agh, this is James, still in the air… Did everyone else make it?" The vulpine says with a grunt of discomfort after his fighter was pushed by the shockwave.

"We've just lost Archer 3 and Lightning 5, 22 fighters remaining…!" Krystal's voice is heard in a reply. "AWACS, where did that attack come from?!"

"We've traced the missile's origin… 28 kilometers southeast of your current position—just over Aurum Bay!"

"But there's nothing that way!" Aldo says, disgruntled. "AWACS, check that intel!"

"Aldo, the position is right—I'm getting the same readings I had just a while ago from that direction…" Krystal's voice interrupts Aldo. "Wait! It's in clouds!"

* * *

A large ship's silhouette appears from within the clouds: the enemy command ship. Leaving the clouds as if they were a smoke screen, the ship's metallic gray plating shines under the sunlight. A few kilometers above the allied forces, the ship began firing a salvo of long-range shells towards the group fighters.

"To all Cornerian forces in range, this is AWACS Adlerauge!" The officer's voice is heard over the allied comms. "We've located the enemy command ship above Corneria City—repeat, the enemy dreadnought is above Corneria City! Any available units, requesting backup!"

The salvo of anti-air shells is evaded by the allied squadrons, with most taking only minimal damage from the shell bursts. They turn to the enemy ship's direction, accelerating.

"StarFox and Archer Squadrons, move in to attack the enemy ship with extreme caution—look for structural weaknesses if possible; Azure and Lightning, provide top cover for the attacking squadrons! All aircraft, close in to the enemy craft and stay out of the minimum ballistic missile range." The orders are received through the comms.

"Roger that, AWACS! Everyone, this is James; spread formation and draw their fire out. Don't let them get you!" James says, taking point.

"That thing is massive! This is Azure 1, how are we going to take a ship that size down?"

"Focus fire on its weapons—once we neutralize some of its firepower we'll have a better chance." James replies.

The allied fighters rip through the thinner clouds as they approach the enemy flagship, with some of the allies firing long-range missiles at the dreadnought. Although some missiles get through its defenses, a good number is shot down by flak.

"AWACS, this is Aldo. That ballistic missile had a huge blast radius—is the ground force still able to give some support?" Aldo says over the radio during the approach to the flagship.

"A skyway collapsed with the shockwave due to damage from the enemy fighters' attack and a few units were caught in the debris, but we still have most of the forces regrouping to provide support. A reinforcement air squadron is on its way, but it will take some time until they arrive." The Adlerauge's officer says. "Ground team 3, what's the ETA until your unit is ready to fire?"

"This is the ground team—just a couple minutes until we're in firing position." A soldier in the anti-air platoon says over the radio, giving orders to the loader afterwards. "Jean, load the Cloudripper rounds!"

* * *

The skirmish continues now high above the city, as the command vessel moves away from the clouds it was using as cover. The ground units' fire is seen again as their preparations complete, with several long-range shells being fired towards the enemy ship's direction, drawing out the thick white tracers.

James circles around the vessel after an attack pass, firing missiles at the enemy ship while dodging fire from the point-defense turrets. The missiles do minimal visible damage, and although operational, two of the eight main turrets are set ablaze by focused allied fire. Half a dozen of the smaller point-defense turrets were trailing smoke, though there were twenty of those.

"This is Krystal—Sully, what can you tell us about the ship?" Krystal's voice is heard as she turns her fighter to target the dreadnought's engines.

"Enemy vessel analysis almost complete… The preliminary results show a high grade kinetic barrier generator with few weak spots—worse still, I think it has an internal repair module." Sully replies. "It's going to take heavy firepower to bring this ship down."

"So let's hit them as hard as we can, but stay sharp. We can't afford to lose any more people until reinforcements arrive." Aldo says, firing his fighter's main guns during a pass on the ship's top turrets, destroying two of the point-defense turrets. "Alright, two more down. They just lost seven of their light turrets."

Despite the initial success, some of the Cornerian fighters take fire from the enemy turrets, two of them losing control and spiraling away from the dreadnought.

"This is Lightning 3, fighter's been critically damaged! Ejecting!" An allied pilot's voice is heard before the canopy opened in his aircraft.

"This is Archer 4—just lost half of a wing and leaking fuel, but still in the air."

"Archer 4, can you make it out of the AO?" Krystal says over the radio.

"Just barely. Sorry guys, I gotta pull out. Get that ship down for us!" The allied pilot replies as he banks out of course, taking the damaged fighter away from the enemy ship.

"Good, get out of their range as soon as you can. We'll keep them busy until then." Krystal responds, pitching her fighter's nose down for a dive attack at the ship.

"Talons away!" She says before pulling up from the enemy ship. As the missile splits up, all four parts hit the hull directly. Despite the continued attacks, the ship is still in the air and shooting at the allied fighters.

"Lightning 1 here, running low on missile reserves. It doesn't seem like we're doing enough damage to take it down. We should try a different strategy." The allied pilot says after a rather ineffective pass at the port of the vessel.

"Good idea, Lightning. All squadrons, break away from the ship and let's try another pass—all at once this time. Attack Pattern Alpha, fire on my mark!" James says, pulling a half loop after making top pass towards the fore of the ship. "Ground team, do you copy?"

"Affirmative, StarFox. Readying Cloudrippers to fire at your mark!" The reply is heard from the allied soldier, with the sound of AA fire stopping as the reload operations begin.

* * *

The fighters cross the enemy ship and bank away from it, evading the several bullets and shells fired from the enemy craft in the process. As they pull away from the ship, fine contrails are drawn from their wingtips, twisting and fading as the fighters roll and turn.

Seeing the radar show the others in position, James pulls an upwards half-loop, then pitching down towards the dreadnought and readying both his guns and missiles for the target.

"Begin fire, now!"

James gives the command, and all fighters attack the enemy ship. Relentlessly hammered from all sides by missiles and cannon fire at once, plus the anti-air fire from below, its kinetic barriers weaken as substantial damage is dealt, with a few breaches on the hull and multiple turrets being taken down.

"That's it; our attacks are getting through now! Krystal here—circling around for another pass!" Krystal's voice is heard as she banks away from the smoking ship.

"All squadrons, the enemy flagship is losing structural integrity! Proceed with… Wait!" the AWACS officer announces over the comms, interrupting himself.

"AWACS, what's wrong?" James says, locking onto the dreadnought again.

"Massive energy spike in the enemy flagship! All units, caution is adv—"

Before the message is finished, the flagship's engines propel the ship away in a short pulse jump—stopping just a few kilometers away from the allied fighters above Corneria City's shore. With the pulse jump in-atmosphere, an EM burst is released by the ship, jamming sensors, equipment and communications on all channels.

" _Warning, system overload. Rerouting power._ "

"Agh! This is James—is everyone still in the air?!" the vulpine says, hurriedly pulling his fighter back into control as the systems reboot, static and noise on all radio frequencies. "Lightning! Azure! Anyone?!"

"..Ligh…here…ystems are be…jammed!.." Barely half of the allied pilot's message gets through as James tries to contact the others.

"…the f…are they ev...thinking to… a jump in-atmosphere!?..." Aldo's malcontent is almost tangible despite the fractured message.

"…units, ECCM! Commlink restored!" The static in the comms is bypassed, with the voice of the AWACS operator being heard clearly again. "This is Adlerauge; the enemy ship has jumped into ballistic missile launch range and is preparing a missile launch! Close in on target and continue engaging!"

"Copy that, AWACS. They're getting desperate—now I know how we can bring that ship down. Everyone, on my tail!" James pushes his fighter into max speed, heading straight onto the vessel. Meanwhile, the enemy ship was changing its heading—with the port facing the allied squadrons before a barrage of shells and bullets is fired.

"Watch out—they're turning to broadside us!" Krystal says as she dives away from incoming fire.

A thick white contrail is released from the ship's port as the ballistic missile is launched, head right into the allied formation.

"Here it comes! Evasive maneuvers!" James exclaims as he banks off from the missile's path, the other fighters accelerating to escape the blast radius. "Everyone, brace for impact!"

The missile continues its path until the blast radius is far enough from the dreadnought, exploding violently afterwards. The fighters are hit again by a shockwave, although this time it was considerably weaker.

"Krystal here, looks like everyone's still with us! Keep going!" Krystal's voice is heard across the comms as she checks for any losses, relieved to see no more allied fighters down.

"Don't take any chances—focus fire on the ship's engines and core section!" James says afterwards.

The fighter formation approaches the enemy ship, positioning for another coordinated attack. Once James gave his command, the dreadnought is repeatedly struck by missiles and gunfire, explosions being seen across its rear section.

"Sully here—looks like the ship's drive core just got totaled!" He says over the radio.

"Nice! Good work, everyone. Now we just need to—what!?"

James' celebration is short-lived as he looks again at the ship, with several parts such as turrets being seen falling—or rather, being detached from its top hull, before being replaced with new ones from the inside of the ship and beginning to fire again. In the process, a strong glow of golden hue is seen near the rear side and engines of the ship, trailing what seemed to be a cloud of Dust as its main engines became operational again.

"This is Archer 1 to James McCloud—the enemy ship is repairing itself!" the pilot's voice showed clear concern as the ship began firing again. "Should we proceed with our current strategy?"

"AWACS, give us a scan of the ship! I want to know if it can do anything like that again, I'm not sure if we can hold out for much longer if this keeps up." Aldo says, dodging a volley of bullets from one of the light turrets.

"Scanning, stand by… Internal readings show no other visible surplus parts. Looks like they're in their last stand." The reply is heard, to Aldo's relief.

"Good, I don't want any more surprises. What's the ETA on our air reinforcements?"

"Just five more minutes until they're in the AO, until then, continue your attack."

Before the fighters are able to reorganize for another pass, an alert is heard in the allied comms.

"All units over Corneria City's airspace, this is Delta 1 with the 4th Central Defense Wing, we're on approach to the AO, please respond."

"This is the StarFox Squadron leader, reading you loud and clear. What's your status, Delta 1?" James replies, with some relief to see reinforcements are finally arriving.

"Ten of our units are reporting in. We're ready to assist, but we just spotted a large group of unidentified fighters headed your way, and they're coming in fast." The pilot says, transmitting data directly to James' Arwing in-flight.

"Wait a minute… Did we get a confirmation on the IFF? The ship profiles don't match with the enemy fighters." James says, looking at the imagery captured from the allied fighters.

"Negative, they weren't transmitting IFF. They probably got hit by EMP from the AO—I'm guessing that was from the enemy ship. We had our systems jammed for a few moments when it happened." The reply is heard. "If they're some of our guys, they'll probably have to reset their IFF. Keep an eye out for those guys."

"Wilco. We'll be on the lookout." James says.

The fighters continue their attack, neutralizing some of the light turrets before pulling away for a coordinated pass. However, before they are in position, parts of a transmission can be heard on the comms.

"…around the…can see the smoke from…" A fractured messaged from a female voice is heard among the static.

"That must be the group Delta squadron mentioned. AWACS, see if you can reach them." James says through the comms.

"This is AWACS Adlerauge of the 1st Central Defense Wing to unidentified squadron; you're entering a CDF area of operations." The officer said. "Identify yourself over the military comm channel."

After some unintelligible speech through static, the pilot's voice is heard clearly once using the proper frequency.

"…told you they changed frequencies after the EMP. AWACS, we're in the pipe; five-by-five. This is Lieutenant Keiko Makise, callsign 'Edge', squad leader of the Red Arrows." Switching frequencies, her voice is heard on the radio. "We're with the 3rd, 4th and 5th Private Tactical Wings from the 2nd Private Division."

"Acknowledged, reset your IFFs—you're not transmitting on our radars. But on whose orders are you operating?" the AWACS officer asks.

"We came here on our own. We figured the defense force could use some help against that massive battleship. We'll be glad give support in any way we can, AWACS." She replies.

"But of cooourse, we can talk about compensation later…" A male voice is heard, in a mocking tone. "Red Arrow 2 here, I hope you guys still have some fight left in you—we plan on taking that thing down hard!"

"Pff, keep dreaming, Wesley. All allied forces; we're entering the AO now." Keiko announces as the incoming fighter teams fly into the zone.

"Archer 1 here, I got a visual on them. Fighters inbound from northwest."

* * *

Far from the enemy fire and the smoke, the incoming squadrons of allied craft were fast approaching the battlescene, ripping through the air in their path and drawing contrails as they turned to the dreadnought.

The private pilots had several customized, unique fighters that stemmed from different Cornerian designs with their individual variant features, and one heavy attacker craft, with a heavy magnetic cannon on its underside.

"Bearing 135, target in sight. This is Edge, all systems check. Raya, Strider—you two ready?" Keiko says, calling her teammates.

"Strider here, all weapons in order. Ready to unload everything at the battleship." The same male pilot from before replies.

"This is Raya; ready whenever you are." Another female pilot in Keiko's team speaks up.

"Good, continue approach on target! Scorch—is the mag lance ready?"

"We're green to go! They won't even know what hit them." The pilot in the attacker replies, accelerating his craft to keep up with the others.

The unexpected reinforcements provided fifteen allies to bolster the ten units with Delta squadron, totaling up to 47 fighters. As both groups approached from different sides, the enemy flagship struggled to redirection its long-range weapons to attack them, at the same time they took fire from the four groups already in the zone.

The loud roar of jet engines echoed across the skies as both the private teams and Delta squadron approached at high speed to attack.

"Alright—Rapier, Firebrand; take your teams to attack them from the sides! Everyone else, on my tail!" as soon as they're all in range, Keiko's voice is heard again.

The private teams split up with the Red Arrows taking point, with the spectacle of contrails and tracers being woven around the enemy ship. Its kinetic barriers, already weakened by the other teams, now fail quickly, allowing the combined forces of the allies to cause massive damage on the flagship through various types of attacks.

Keiko opens fires towards the top of the ship with the main cannons of her fighter while launching a flurry of micro-missiles from an undermounted pod at her fighter, hitting several sections of the ship. Meanwhile, 'Strider' fires the main guns of his own before hitting the engine section with two piercing missiles, that detonate within the ship. 'Raya' circles around while avoiding the turrets' aim, half-looping back towards the ship, hitting the command section—presumably the bridge— with two heavy EMP missiles as well as the cannons.

Lastly, 'Scorch' blind-fires at the ship with his attacker's heavy machineguns, firing the magnetic cannon and piercing through ship with the heavy shell. Lastly, he climbs, opening the lower weapon bays of his attacker and dropping nothing short of a powerful payload in a high-yield-explosive _bomb_ of all things.

With short work being made of the barriers of the ship, the combined allied fighters join in formation to finish off the ship.

* * *

The ship's lower section opens up to reveal a fighter launch bay, with all fighters that could be launched getting into the air to try defending the ship in a final defense. Unfortunately for the dreadnought and its forces, the combined forces of the allied squadrons proved too much as some of the fighters were shot down just after their deployment.

"James here—good work to all squadrons; the ship is almost finished. Watch out for the fighters; they'll probably try to take us down with them." The SF squad leader says, shooting off a light turret in the ship, damaging one of the heavy AA turrets in the process.

"Wait… 'James'? You can't be _the_ James McCloud, are you?" Keiko says, surprised to hear James' name over the radio. "I can't believe we're getting to do this with you guys. Your stories are the stuff of legends."

"The one and only, Edge." James says, a tone of extra confidence in his voice as he hears the enthusiastic remarks from Keiko. "It's good to see that the private wings are still fighting the good fight. So far, I'm impressed with your squad."

"You're kidding me, it's StarFox? Hah, _that_ explains how the allies held out as long as they did!" Strider is heard again, with some jest in his voice as he remarks about the CDF's usual performance.

"You'd be surprised, Strider. We still have some tricks up our sleeves." Delta's leader speaks up again. "Delta leader to all units—we're coming into weapons range now. Let's give these guys a real fireworks show."

Off to the northeast, Delta's unit approaches fast, launching a number of long-range missiles towards the dreadnought. As the battleship takes multiple hits, more and more fighters leave, with some of them coordinating to engage the allies.

"Red Arrows, huh… Looks like we have some fans, James." Krystal says in a slightly more cheerful tone.

"I can't believe this ship is still up after taking a hit from the mag-lance _and_ a Mk.98. Raya—do you have any idea where this ship came from? These guys are definitely not any usual pirate band." Scorch is heard on the radio, with clear surprise on his voice before he makes an attack pass with his craft.

"I doubt there's anything like this on our database, though I'm sure we could learn about it if we could study their tech… If anything can be salvaged after we take it down." Raya replies, scanning the ship's profile and assessing its capabilities.

"Hold on—this is Strider to StarFox team. Is Aldo flying with you today?" Strider speaks up again, with some curiosity in his voice.

"I hear you, Strider." Aldo replies. "Got something on your mind?"

"Damn, I never thought I'd get to fly with aces like you guys. But, I figured some of us could split up in duos to engage the enemy fighters before they become a real problem." Strider replies anxiously. "Might be a good chance to see if I can catch on to any of your tricks. Wanna team up?"

"Hah, you just try to keep up. Aldo here, breaking formation to join with Strider. And you buddy, let's see if you're good at the _scissors_." The blue bird replies in a confident tone.

The air engagement continues, with the enemy ship out of more fighters to launch—or operable ones anyway. Aldo and Strider split up from the rest of the team to engage the enemies circling around to flank allied fighters. In joint attacks, the two pilots weave around their targets in S-shaped turns, shooting them down as they attempt to escape to either direction.

* * *

At the middle of the battlescene, the ground forces shoot down more of the small craft launched from the ship. Although now they're more cautious, high-explosive shells showed their stopping power as they brought down half a dozen of the fighters that were launched, the rest too busy to try attacking the ground team while being engaged by the allied forces. Other AA units continued to attack the flagship with the Cloudripper rounds—piercing through the ship's hull as its armor weakens with the kinetic barriers down.

"Red Arrow 4, this is AWACS Adlerauge, over." The operator's voice is heard, directed at Scorch.

"This is Scorch, we read you." The pilot replies from his attacker.

"We've pinpointed the power core of the ship after more scans. Our missiles can't get through the armor, but your attacker's magnetic cannon has enough piercing capability and stopping power to deal with it. As soon as you have a chance, attack the target's power core and bring that ship down!"

"Copy that, AWACS; mag lance is ready. Raya, be sure to mark the ship's power core for me. Let's make sure they go down this time." Scorch says, banking to aim at the battleship, the targeting reticle right at the center after he slows down to get a precise shot.

"Just a second… Alright, it's just after the midsection. Scorch, you should be getting the data on your visor any minute now." She replies, as Scorch's visor paints a large dot onto the targeted ship.

The attacker's magnetic cannon powers up with visible arcing between its rails, launching another high-velocity shell right into the ship's core for massive damage. The shell pierces through some thinner armor flawlessly after hitting it on the starboard, passing through the reinforced internal armor and flying out of its port, with a series of explosions in the midsection and fore of the ship.

"Dead on." Scorch says as he sees the target being massively damaged by his attack. "AWACS, Scorch here. The power core has been taken care of."

The ship had already been slowed down by the attacks, but after the magnetic cannon strike through its core, the little power it had to keep itself on the air was taken away. Its directional rocket thrusters are activated to attempt keeping it upright as they slow down its descent—only barely.

The plummeting ship draws a trail of fire and smoke as it descends towards the shore, with a number of escape pods being launched off from the ship. It splashes down into the shallow waters not far from the Cornerian shoreline, just before its core explodes and sends a visible amount of water, smoke and fiery debris into the sky with its shockwave.

"AWACS, this is the ground team! The air squadrons have managed to take down the enemy battleship—their fighters are running away scared!" A soldier in the AA unit is heard on the radio.

"Copy that, we can even see it from here. All units, this is Adlerauge. We confirm that the enemy flagship has been neutralized—repeat; the enemy flagship is down and the remaining enemy units are on retreat. Mission accomplished!"

The allies' radio is filled with the pilots' voices as they celebrate their victory, with the cheering and clapping between the ground unit soldiers and the pilots alike. The downed ship released a tall column of smoke after it had been neutralized, with the wreckage sitting inoperable at the Cornerian shore.

"Incoming message from the 3rd Fleet. Patching it through." The AWACS' officer speaks up again.

"This is Admiral Fletcher of the 3rd Fleet. We've just received word that the enemy flagship has been taken out, and I'm sure you'll all be glad to hear that the defense of New Ellinburg has been successful." The admiral's voice is heard over the radio, to James' relief. "The remaining enemy forces have sent a surrender message and disengaged combat. Good work, to all of you soldiers. You've made your homeworld proud today."

"Wow… I can't believe that we really did it…" Strider says, joining with the other fighters as they form up, heading to the nearest airbase.

"Can't say we would have done it without you guys. Hey, Strider?" Aldo says, calling the other pilot in the radio. "Nice work back there with the enemy fighters. Not bad."

"…For a rookie." He adds, with a short laugh off-mic.

"Hah. Yeah, yeah, keep talking…" Strider replies, shaking his head.

As James joins the fighter wing on his way back, he approaches Scorch's attacker.

"James to all Red Arrows. Thank you for the assistance. Scorch really delivered for us at this one." He says, congratulating the fellow pilots.

"Happy to help. But it wasn't just Scorch or our team. You guys really turned the tables here." Keiko replies. "I'd expect nothing less from the legendary StarFox team."

"Oh, and one more thing… I guess it goes without saying, but you guys inspired many PFs, us included. If you ever need our help, we'll be glad to fly alongside your team again." She adds, a tad anxiously.

"I appreciate the sentiment, L-T. We'll see if we can repay the favor at some point." James replies.

"Just doing our part… Now come on guys – once we get to the base, drinks are on me."


	7. Chapter V: Ripples

**Chapter V: Ripples**

 _23rd of Month Seven, 2979 GST – CDF General Headquarters, 'Conference Chamber'_

Almost a week after the attacks at Corneria, the entire system already had received word of the unknown force that attempted to invade the core world. Despite incessant efforts of the government with damage control, wild rumors and speculation ran unchecked through the entire system.

Be it through the news reports, messaging across acquaintances, some internet _meme_ or simply word of mouth, everyone had heard of or seen something about the mysterious hostile fleet and the powerful dreadnought that was bested over the capital; several 'leaked' images of 'alien pilots' who had ejected during the battle circled around the media depicting clear intervention of high-ranking CDF officials in the search and arrest of the attackers; videos showing heavy activity as military transports mobilize and salvage technology from several 'UFO' crash sites around the globe and the large wreckage at Corneria City's Aurum Bay; reports about a shadow organization referred to as "The Initiative"…

At that point, the existence of another spacefaring civilization was outright impossible to deny. More damning, however, was how the populace's impression of the 'visitors' was not one of wonder or curiosity but instead, one of fear, given how the first public encounter's events went.

* * *

An assembly of high-ranking officers was being held in the wide, large conference room of the headquarters. The strip lights placed close to the walls gave the room a dark, bluish tint look, save for the white, round ceiling holoprojector in the middle of the room. A number of representatives of Cornerian and other Lylatian planets were present at the meeting alike, spanning their various ranks and roles in the government heads of several planets of Lylat.

All of the StarFox team members were at this meeting. James was sitting near to the middle of the table, with Aldo and Krystal by his sides, Sully sitting to the right of where Krystal was. James' anxiety was visible—furrowed brows, shifty eyes and an impatient muffled tapping of his foot against the carpeted floor.

Around them, some military, political leaders and representatives of Lylat's worlds were present. Admiral Fletcher, from the battle at Corneria's orbit, was sitting near the end of the table at the far side of the room. At the same time, a few of the foreign representatives muttered to each other. Even one of the Saurian Development Institute directors was in the meeting. All eyes in Lylat were looking at Corneria, and they all wanted to know what was happening.

The doors to the room slide open and then close as another figure walks in. Major General Ronald Pepper is seen adjusting his uniform and cap before taking a few steps. The aging, bearded spaniel hound of light brown fur and green eyes pulls his chair at the end of the table and sits down.

He takes a deep breath before speaking.

"You haven't made this one easy on our side, StarFox. The Council will give us a massive migraine about this…" Pepper says, placing his arms on the table. "First, you were just at the time an explosion beneath the restricted research complex happened. Now, the place is under lockdown. Then your ship goes completely off the grid, only to appear just in time to catch up with an unknown hostile fleet."

"And now when we press the people there, they'll only say footnotes about this 'Division Omega' and 'Joint Initiative' groups that keep setting off all sorts of bells and whistles when we try searching up on the databases. All information restricted to a few select people." He continues. "I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone here, it's just… What in the bloody hell happened?"

"I object again to this meeting, General. They shouldn't be allowed to be here. Those people were clearly conducting an illegal operation—and whoever they provoked; they brought back to our homeworld." One of the attendees says; a captain of a Defense Force fleet of vulpine kind, steel grey eyes and short, wavy hair. "You can't entrust some mercenary with a soldier's task, they should be under custody or investigation—"

"For helping defend our world more than once and stopping whoever just came after us?" The general says, cutting the other officer. "Speak when spoken to, Julian; McCloud and his team are in our debt for more than just what they did last week. We don't know what's happening yet, but his team is not some tribal militia, they're regulars affiliated with the private task-force under our services, same for the other teams that assisted him in combat."

"I can vouch for them as well. We suffered losses, but without Captain McCloud's private team to coordinate our attack on the flagship and the other allies that came in to help, the invaders probably wouldn't have surrendered. It could have been a lot worse." Admiral Fletcher comments, raising his hand.

"…Objection withdrawn." Captain Julian says, after exchanging glances with James.

"My apologies, McCloud. Captain Julian was never in favor of the creation of a division comprised entirely of private forces." Pepper resumes, looking back at James. "But this isn't the purpose of this meeting. We're in the dark out here, and we need to know what you can tell us about what's going on."

James sighs and rubs his hands at his face, leaning forth as he rests his arms on the table afterwards.

"I'm afraid there aren't many details we can share, General. While it's true we've been under orders of another group as well, none of us is responsible for this attack." James says reluctantly. "We were on a mission for this Division Omega. They are a task-force responsible with establishing peaceful first contact between their people and Lylat. Obviously, someone didn't want that to happen…"

"That much we all can see." Captain Julian remarks. "And another interesting detail is your ship, Captain McCloud. Upon closer examination, it is incredibly advanced, despite not being one of our bulkier designs—and yet few of those technologies are in our hands at the moment. I'm assuming this Division Omega you speak of was responsible for these advances."

"Yes, Captain. Space Dynamics was responsible for the base design and assembly of the ship, but the technology was provided by Division Omega… More specifically, it was 'a vote of trust' from the Joint Initiative." James replies.

"Another organization we'll have to interview you and your crew about later on, I presume." The other vulpine says.

"You mean 'interrogate'. You certainly don't seem to be fond of us." Aldo cuts in, arms crossed.

"Oh, please. Mr. Lombardi, I may not approve of some… unorthodox tactics and unpredictable attitudes of private military companies and contractors, but I'm no barbarian." Julian replies. "My biggest concern is about how 'regularized' your actions can be considered."

At the door behind Pepper's chair, another officer enters the room saluting Pepper and speaking up:

"Major General, sir. Professor Lopez has arrived with our VIP."

"Let them in, we have much to discuss." The general says, looking back over his shoulder.

The other officer walks steps away from the door, allowing passage for two more people; Professor Beltino and presumably Commander Ford, whose identity was concealed behind a full-face helmet. Beltino took a seat a few chairs away from General Pepper, while Ford sat down just at his right.

"Professor Beltino, Commander Ford." General Pepper greets the two. "I appreciate you could partake in this meeting. I know you are taking a large risk with your participation, so let us not allow it to go to waste. Commander Ford, your helmet, please."

The human unlocks his helmet from his suit, taking it off, placing it on top of the table afterwards. With a sigh, he rubs his forehead with the right hand, looking around the room.

The representatives and military members murmur to each other upon seeing the human's face revealed, with some discussing for a few moments.

"So it is really true." Pepper says, stroking his chin as he sees Markus' face, looking at the others present in the room afterwards. "Gentlemen, it's needless to say that everything you're learning during this meeting is classified. But, let us continue."

"Greetings to all of you. As General Pepper just said, I am Commander Markus Ford. I will speak in behalf of the Joint Initiative of Interspecies Defense, Diplomacy and Trade, the organization responsible for the creation of Division Omega."

"What can you tell us about this Joint Initiative of yours, Commander Ford?" General Pepper inquiries, opening up a file to take notes on his computer at the table.

Commander Ford promptly begins to explain the history of the Joint Initiative, its goals and its resources, their means of transport between galaxies, and some highlights about The Endless and the other major nations of his galaxy. He continues his explanation by retelling the events from the previous week, his report from James at the other side of the Gateway, and the mission given to James while at that. Lastly, he places datapads on top of the table, containing technical specifications and a detailed overview of the CCV Enurance.

Some of the representatives ask detailed questions, minor and major alike. With the reunion drawing longer, the General listened attentively to Ford's statements until all main representatives are finished with their questions.

* * *

"I see, Commander… This is definitely a lot to consider." The general says, thoughtful.

"From what I understood, however, this seems like a somewhat presumptuous view. Your organization seems to hold itself responsible for 'uplifting' species, as you call this process." Julian remarks. "Aren't there high risks involved in changing a civilization this drastically? Isn't it possible that those changes may harm a world's culture or people?"

"Excuse me, Captain Julian. If I may, I believe this is possibly within my area of expertise." A female voice is heard across the table—from the Sauria representative of the calico cat kin with a tied-back hair bun, wearing half-framed reading glasses.

"My name is Melissa Adams; Executive Director and overseer of the Saurian Development Institute." She says, introducing herself. "After the incident six years ago perpetrated by the 'Crimson Sharpclaws' faction of the Saurian natives, a decree from the Cornerian Confederacy established that in order to prevent the planet's unique superstructures from being exposed to further risks—to avoid its destruction and the danger of creating a debris field across the system—direct intervention was necessary."

"After the first year, a basic infrastructure for communications and services was created across our outposts near the capitals of their nations and the Krazoa Nexus structures holding the so-called 'Pillars of Sauria'. While the Development Institute has no plans for more… pervasive changes to their world, a significant change across the cultures we directly contacted was observed." She continues, adjusting her glasses. "Despite initial hostilities and fear towards an ever-growing number of the 'people of the stars' in their world, they substantially decreased over the years, and their culture is progressively adapting to our presence. Especially considering Captain McCloud's personal history in helping their world, most now are sympathetic towards us."

"What is your point, Miss Adams?" Julian questions.

"We didn't come down on their people to ensure safety through oppression and tight military control. But despite that, we're still 'holding their hand' in a manner of saying, just enough so their world is preserved." She says, explaining her view. "As with their case, we might not be entirely prepared to independently interact with other nations from this Joint Initiative that Commander Ford is aligned with."

"Although you make a fair point, I personally do not feel the same way. Even if we still are decades—if not centuries—lagging behind in technology, I'm sure we're more than civil enough to be independent in a galactic scene."

"Are we? Let's face it, Julian—we're on a fragile peace as-is. More than once we've faced interplanetary wars, and we even turned one of our own worlds into a gelid wasteland during one of them. Have you ever been to Zoness before it was taken by the Venomian Empire? Or rather, before the bombings back in 2945?" Pepper says. "I take no pride in what Corneria did as a nation back then."

"I've… read about it, sir." Julian says reluctantly.

"Besides, the bigger issue at hand is more than obvious: our worlds are rich in resources, and some of the more unscrupulous elements of their worlds are definitely watching us." Pepper remarks. "Though, we are straying off our goal here. What is your say on the recent attacks, Commander Ford? The forces that attacked our planet are definitely not pirates from our worlds, and we still have no idea who they are."

"I sadly can't tell you more than you already might have found out by now; we've discovered that they are private contractors from an illegal shadow operations network. We still have to track down who hired them—and more importantly, find out why did they target Corneria, or how they even knew about you at all." Ford replies.

"However, according to our reports, several of their men were taken under custody by three distinct groups after their forces surrendered." Ford continues. "One is reportedly your XCOD military organization, and the other was Division Omega. The third group, however…"

"Indeed, we have been unable to pinpoint what group was responsible for the capture of some of those people…" Pepper says. "We're unsure whether it was some insurgent militia, a criminal organization, or…"

"…Or one of our cells has gone rogue." James completes the general's statement.

"Yes, it's a possibility." The general concludes.

"My advice is to be careful with what treatment is given to these prisoners, General. If they are under contract from a splinter group from _our_ side, this could be a major diplomatic incident waiting to happen." Ford says.

"Duly noted. However, I'm more than willing to turn those prisoners over to your Omega Division, with one condition." Pepper says.

"While the indubitably sensitive nature of the operation your task-force was conducting makes its low profile defendable, we would feel more encouraged to further cooperation were it not so… irregularly tied to our own chain of command." The general states.

"I understand, General. Originally we had planned that the transfer of Division Omega into operating fully under Cornerian authority would happen after official contact was established. However, given the current circumstances…" Ford replies. "I'll contact the Joint Initiative about this matter after this meeting is over and make the necessary changes."

"We appreciate your understanding. And while we're at this matter…" General Pepper says, before looking towards James. "James, we apologize for our overzealous attitude regarding what happened. Now that I can understand the situation clearly, I can say that you've performed admirably both as soldier and commanding officer."

"Thank you, General. It's not an easy task, but we've been doing our best to further Corneria's interests." James replies, calmer now as the situation seems to be settling.

"I can see that is indeed the case." Pepper remarks. "…Mr. Ford, would it be possible to put Captain McCloud's name forward as a recommendation for the CO role of Division Omega?"

"...An interesting suggestion, General Pepper." Ford comments, unusually expressing a faint smirk. "Considering McCloud's service history, I'm sure that might be a noteworthy recommendation."

"That is much appreciated. With all of this said, we'll be sure to provide whatever cooperation is required to the Joint Initiative. As for any other pending matters, we shall discuss them at another occasion." Pepper says in conclusion. "Congratulations... Commander McCloud."

After the General's words, the other officials stand up from their chairs, conversing to each other and discussing the possible repercussions. James' team takes their leave as well, though James himself is stopped by General Pepper as he places his right hand on James' left shoulder.

"Also, if you could spare the time at some point, come pay a visit to my main office." He says, walking ahead afterwards. "We shall meet again later, McCloud."

* * *

"It appears the operations are proceeding smoothly now, Major."

"Sir?" The officer replies, a tone of confusion as he approaches his superior. "I'm sorry, but I believe you've been misinformed. I'm actually here to give the full report on… _our_ losses."

"I'm not misinformed, Major. I know full well that the CDF repelled the attacks flawlessly."

"And was that part of your plan…?"

"A massive underestimation of local forces is what encouraged the contractors to accept the task in the first place. It might seem cold, considering the lives on the line, but now we've got the full attention of the Initiative focused elsewhere. Now, they'll be busy with investigation and first contact talks for the next few years, and we will have plenty of time to proceed with our goals." The man says, a tone of confidence as he reads through the reports. "Also, I hear this 'Division Omega' of the Initiative had an unusual recommendation for a commanding officer."

"Apparently they are arranging an early transfer of the division into Cornerian control." The major continues. "But, what about McCloud? He seems to sympathize with the Initiative. Isn't it possible he might become a problem or get in our way?"

"Then we'll see to it that he doesn't."

* * *

 _10th of Month Eight, 2979 GST – CDF General Headquarters, Maj. General Pepper's Office_

The towering building in front of Mainland Garden and the Unification Day Monument stood tall, its platinum-white plating shining from the daylight. James was visiting General Pepper a few days after the meeting with the Lylatian representatives.

Leaving the elevator, James walked through a small corridor and entered a sliding door at the end, into the Major General's office. It was decorated in a classy, ornate look, with a few paintings and historical photographs at the walls, red velvet carpet, and a stylish, modern chandelier overhead. The clear glass window overlooking the Unification Day Monument and its surroundings provided a rather privileged view of the upper city.

"General Pepper." James' voice is heard as he enters the room, greeting Pepper.

"Commander McCloud. I was hoping you'd come by." He replies. "There are a few things I was hoping we could discuss in private. I'm glad you could spare the time."

"Always willing to hear out an old friend. What did you need to talk about, General?" James asks, stepping close to Pepper's desk and stopping in front of it.

The General pushes his chair back from his desk, opening a drawer and taking a small case from it. Standing up, Pepper steps towards the window while holding the container with his hands in front of him.

"These are interesting times, McCloud. Definitely times of change." Pepper begins. "While I can't say I'm fully confident that they will be peaceful, I know that we need more men like you to entrust the future with."

"What are you getting at, sir?" James asks.

"With last month's mission for the Initiative, it is roughly the third time you go through amazing lengths to help the Cornerian Confederacy. In your own way, surely, but never failing to accomplish whatever mission with impeccable results. Do you understand?"

"I understand what you're saying, but I'm just doing my job." James answers.

"I wish more men had your definition of 'just doing your job'." The general says after a short laugh. "What I'm saying is that we need people who are not just able, but also _willing_ to be more than just soldiers."

"You know full well that the CDF isn't just a band of gunmen who make use of military bravado and a hail of bullets to perform their tasks." He continues. "Doctors, engineers, scientists, diplomats, yet, anyone can see... Although the Confederacy is strong at the sword, we're not invincible. But there are always alternatives. I can see that you're a young man of many talents, McCloud. Hopefully, they will not go to waste on our hands."

"Another thing... James—your father, I mean... He clearly passed a lot of himself down to you." Pepper says, turning to face James. "Always a free spirit, always thinking outside of the box... It's one of the reasons I put his name forward to spearhead the fleets during the Lylat Wars. He knew how to turn the tide of battle towards him and his allies, and more importantly, he knew his comrades."

"I hear he was a friend of yours back in the day, General." James says, taking a step closer.

"Indeed... Your father was a good man. We've seen a lot together, but he always had a reassuring attitude and a smile on his face." The general comments. "And you... They just don't make them like the two of you anymore... Pragmatic, amicable, and natural leaders, both of you."

"There is another thing I have to say." Pepper says, handing over the small case to James. "I wanted to give you this. Here, take it."

James holds the thin container on his hands, opening it to find a medal stored inside. He didn't recognize it, however: A silvery, shield-shaped medal, two wings with the Confederacy's colors of white and royal blue, and the engraved orbits of the Lylatian planets behind them. Near the top of the shield, an engraving was present with the words ' _CONFIDO AD ASTRA'_.

"The ' _Shield of Lylat'_ , they call it…" The general says. "I was going to give this medal to your father once he had been promoted from the rank of Captain… I'd say you're well deserving of this, James."

James seemed rather speechless, looking at the medal with a distant expression on his face. More than just a medal, this was a symbol that meant he had not only equaled but maybe even surpassed the feats of his father. What was he supposed to feel? Joy? Closure? Pride?

"General, I…"

"No need to thank me, James. A medal is the least we can do." Pepper interrupts James, giving him a pat on the left shoulder.

James quietly smiles, saluting the General, who does the same in return. He walks away from Pepper, pacing out of his office and bidding him farewell before going through the door:

"Goodbye, General. I look forward to meeting you again." James says, closing the door behind him and walking back to the elevator.

* * *

Five years later…

Over the next few years, relatively little disturbed the peace in Lylat. However, different issues crept into life.

After the first contact incident in 2979, the existence of organizations such as Division Omega and the Joint Initiative became public. With these events, the latter publicly declared its intentions and arranged a high-profile diplomatic envoy to Lylat, with representatives of the major nations and factions of their galaxy.

However, with the conflict that set all of this in motion still fresh in the collective memory of the Lylatian people, initial hostility was an unfortunate constant. The major sympathizers included Division Omega and several scholars from the Cornerian Science Academy, in addition to some members of the military. However, the more outspoken and militant opposition members insisted that the government was giving in to fear and was being controlled. From corporate executives to self-proclaimed ex-military 'nationalists', a number of vocal groups clearly had set in stone their conceptions against the outsiders.

Not that their claims were completely invalid, however; by the first year, the Confederacy had agreed to co-develop in the construction of Initiative science stations across the system, as well an embassy in Corneria.

In the second year, an official Joint Initiative military outpost was built in Fortuna, with the major industrial players of their worlds arriving soon after. With them, arrived the backbone of their civilizations—the Dust—as an initial proposal to jumpstart trading and friendly relations.

Over time, security forces began to be contracted to operate within the system, important private clients and high-risk companies being among some of the groups hiring these security consultants. By the fourth year, Dust was relatively widespread in usage across the system, gradually being integrated into Lylatian technology.

The presence of aliens became a lesser rarity by the fifth year—for better or worse. Though open cooperation was preferred from the heads of both parties, insurgent Lylatian groups began to band together in malcontent. Protests by self-proclaimed 'nationalists' occurred far and wide across the system after the first month of 2984, especially so in the worlds where aliens were part of military-grade security forces.

The claims made by those insurgents were dismissed by the Confederacy as 'wild speculation' and 'ravings from racist anarchists'. In reality, the Confederacy eventually became a major sympathizer for cooperation with the Joint Initiative.

Even with signs of disapproval from some parts of society, the Joint Initiative became a valuable ally in the Confederacy's development for the exploration of the interstellar neighborhood, as well as a means of training experts in all matters regarding Dust and their technologies.

The Confederacy outposts Miriam, Rockwell Landing, Century and Progress were founded across hospitable planets in the systems previously charted as colonization candidates—Clavis, Decem, Taurus and Ysdrall respectively. Substantial Joint Initiative participation aided in this endeavor, giving a strong argument for sympathizing supporters.

By that time, whatever wounds Lylat had from previous wars already had been healed. But that did not mean it was the last conflict seen by its people…

* * *

 _19th of Month Two, 2984 GST – Corneria City, Eastern Commercial District, 'Elanus Industries HQ'_

The morning sun painted the cityscape in a reddish-golden hue. The highly-developed vista of Corneria City's Eastern Commercial District teemed with activity, uncountable vehicles down at the skyways, many shuttles and transports seen overhead. The winter was almost at its end, with the air blowing no more than a comfortable chilly wind through the skyscrapers.

At the rooftops, a figure was seen standing with its right knee on the floor. The one agent known through the alias 'Mirage' was watching activity over a cargo shuttle landing area from above. She activates holo-targeting systems in her suit, zooming in with the AR-visor's enhanced sighting to examine the activity closely.

"This is Mirage—you were right; the shipments arrived just as you told me." She says, standing up and examining the tall skyscraper ahead.

"Good, sounds like we're on the right track then. You should get moving if you want to be able to reach the target; he'll probably be leaving to Fortuna tomorrow for a seminar on major biotech pioneer corporations. Better not waste this shot." A male voice is heard over Mirage's earpiece.

"Elanus and I are going to have a little chat soon. I'm on my way right now." She says, running and leaping across rooftops, holding onto a coolant pipe of a nearby building afterwards to climb back up.

The agent continues on the run, sliding down a metal slope in one of the buildings and propelling herself further ahead with her legs, landing with a roll and glancing at the surroundings to make sure she isn't being followed.

"By the way, are you sure this time he'll cooperate?" Mirage hears the voice again in the earpiece.

"He will. Dean might play the tough guy act, but he breaks easily." She replies.

"Sounds like you've been doing your homework about him. But we need him alive, Mirage." The man on the radio continues saying. "And I'm worried about the security on the HQ… Isn't it an elite private military unit? Some former United Empire troopers if my intel is good. These guys are trigger-happy, and won't take casually to an intruder, so stay sharp."

"I know. I'm not going to plant a bomb in the place or anything—and if this goes well, I won't even need to deal with his security." Mirage replies, sprinting and using some crates for a higher jump, climbing up a wall and moving to the next rooftop.

She stops a few steps away from the edge, with the E. Industries tower right ahead. It's too far for a jump, but she can see a crane, right below a helipad in the tower.

She takes a deep breath and a few steps back, dashing off and leaping towards the crane. Mirage holds onto the crane's hook cable with her hands and legs after the leap, tightening the grip to stop sliding down. After climbing to the top of the crane, she looks upwards, with a platform a few meters above.

"I think I found an entrance. The grappling hook should do it from here." She says over the earpiece.

Mirage stretches her right arm upwards, aiming at a handrail on the platform. A grappling hook is fired from her arm by the suit, tangling with the handrail. She tugs the cable with both arms, checking if it's fixed in place. Afterwards, she starts climbing the cable with her hands, and after a couple minutes climbing, she reaches the handrail and vaults over it, stepping onto the platform.

To her left, Mirage can see a simple steel door. She walks into the building, entering at the bottom of a stairwell.

"Okay, I'm in. Looks like I just left helipad two." She says, looking at the text above the door she just went through. "Where do I need to go from here?"

"Take the stairs and go up three floors. Leave the stairwell, go through the corridor and make your way through it, then take the right at the end and go up the stairs; the cargo elevator is at the northern side of the building along one of the main structural support pillars, just a couple floors above you now." Mirage's collaborator says.

"Got it." She says, using the grappling hook to cut the path short, climbing and entering the corridor.

* * *

Near the top of the building, a darkened office room only had thin strips of sunshine for lighting, most of the light obscured by closed window blinds. A suited figure was seen standing in front of a holoprojector: Dean Elanus, the CEO of Elanus Industries. The fennec fox had brown eyes, and stylish, groomed-back hair, wearing a scouter on his right eye.

"…I know, I know; we did say that the deadline would be comfortable for the third month, but it's been difficult to work with our current resources." He was speaking in a coded channel—likewise, the man he was talking to was not seen as a holoprojection. "Right now, we're on the verge of creating a seamless link with our current neural interfaces. We just need more time, and Dust."

"Resources can be arranged, Mr. Elanus, but time is short." A voice is heard from the speakers in the room. "If you really insist in having more time, that'll come at a cost."

"…Fine, how many will you need this time, and where to?" Elanus replies.

"Eighty more volunteers; thirty male, fifty female." The request is heard over the speakers. "I've sent you the medical profiles you'll be looking for. They'll be sent to Rockwell Landing."

"Someone's eventually going to notice these people are going somewhere and not coming back, you know." Elanus says.

"Under the guise of being volunteers for space exploration, it'll be hard to notice. We'll fabricate reasons for their lack of contact and take care of any necessary damage control."

"Okay, look; I've been cooperating here for long enough. I don't like being kept in the dark, and I know you said that a low profile on this is crucial, but I need to know one thing." Elanus raises his tone while talking. "I need to know if these people are alright. I don't need blood on my hands."

"Mr. Elanus, despite our initial setbacks, I can assure you that we are taking the proper measures to ensure the safety of every volunteer." The reply is heard.

"It better be worth it. I've received a number of concerned messages from families already—they want to know why they can't reach their people." Elanus says.

"Tell them that their family members are on a task of utmost importance. They're with us to ensure the lasting presence of the Lylatian people among the stars. They all knew of the risks when they volunteered." The man continues.

"That _might_ work for the actual volunteers. But the… 'specimens' you're looking for—they are very specific. We had more than a few 'being volunteered' already." Elanus replies.

"Don't concern yourself with that. We'll make sure no issues stem from those cases. We will speak again once we confirm the arrival of the subjects."

* * *

The interior of Elanus HQ had an orange tint from its decorative wall lights, with granite floor and simple beige carpets in the middle of corridors. The color scheme of the interior consisted mostly of pastel tones; however, there was no time for appreciating the sight. Mirage was close to the elevator, and its cargo.

Walking down the corridor and staying close to the wall at her right, Mirage stops at the four-way corridor junctions, peeking around the wall corner to make sure she isn't spotted. The agent sneaks past some technicians at one of the corridors, too busy to notice her presence. Reaching the end of the corridor, she can hear someone talking around the left corner of a T-junction, with a large glass-pane window at the front.

"Hold on, I think there's someone up ahead." Mirage says, staying close to the left wall and peeking around its corner.

"…So I was trying to get this beer can loose, right? And then the thing gets stuck." A human trooper is seen leaning back against a wall, arms crossed, sidearm holstered and rifle locked at his back. He's wearing a medium set of armor, colored in dark gray with orange trim, with a full-face helmet.

"Uh-huh." The short is response heard from the other guard—a Cornerian wolf wearing a light security vest, with a light machine pistol on his holster.

"So I give the vending machine a tug, and suddenly the thing starts tipping." The human continues.

"Oh, shit." The wolf says, surprised.

"Yeah, 'oh shit' is right—but I got lucky; that one was lighter than most vending machines." The human continues with the idle chatter. "Almost thought it was the end for a second… Death by vending machine, heh."

"I can just see the workplace PSAs coming up." The other guard muses. "Anyway, I got word from the admin staff earlier; looks like some new people…"

Mirage backs off a few steps from the corner, keeping her voice down as she speaks on the radio.

"Those two probably aren't going to just let me pass by. Can you make a diversion?" She says, one hand at the side of her visor.

"I'll try to, but I can't make any promises. Their systems are well-protected."

After hearing the voice over her earpiece, Mirage can hear a beeping sound from afar, around the corner. Her collaborator was seemingly able to divert the guards' attention by jamming a door down the corridor.

"Aw man, that damn door is on the fritz again. I thought we had the techs fix it yesterday." The wolf says while walking towards the door, followed by the trooper. "Let me see if I can stop the alarm now."

Mirage looks around the left of the T-junction again, hearing her collaborator on the earpiece afterwards:

"There's your chance—get to the right and take the stairs."

Mirage walks off, going to the right in the junction and pacing faster through the corridor.

However, the beeping stops before she can reach the stairs to get out of sight. The guards shrug at the other end of the corridor, and after turning around, they see Mirage.

"…Hey, who's that over there?" The wolf says.

"Hey, you—stop right there!" The human shouts across the corridor. Mirage stops in place, the two guards approaching from behind.

It was at that moment Mirage slowly unsheathed her blade from her back.

"…Sound the alarm. Sound the alarm!" The trooper exclaims, pulling the rifle from his back as the wolf runs off to alert the building.

"Hostile spotted!" The first salvo of shots breaks the peace inside the building as the trooper begins his attack against Mirage, alarms going off across the building.

This is proven of no use at first, however, as Mirage uses her blade to deflect the bullet salvo, almost too quick for the eye to see. She dodges more shots with a roll to the right, and then sprints up the stairs before she can be fired upon again.

"Dammit, they've spotted me! Please tell me Elanus is still in the building!" Mirage says over her earpiece while pacing up the stairs.

"He's at his office near the top—but it just went into lockdown. I don't think he's leaving during an emergency." The answer is heard.

"Right, that's one thing working on my side then. But now I'll have to deal with the security on my way first." She replies.

With the building on alert, Mirage speeds up on her run through the corridors, her exosuit making the steps stomp against the floor on her sprint. Some security men try to ambush her by coming out of the doors at the corridor, but are taken down with swift, crippling blade slashes to the legs and arms. She brandishes the blade to clean off some blood on it, running with the sword at her right hand.

"Okay Mirage, change of plans; you're going through this floor's lobby. It's faster than going around the guards—and sneaking past them is useless now that they're on alert." She hears the male voice on the earpiece again.

"And it also means they'll be crowding the place. I hope you know what you're doing." Mirage replies taking a left turn and tackling at a steel door to the lobby.

Breaking through the door proves to be a bad decision, however; three troopers and two security men were ready at the room, with the troopers taking cover behind furniture and pillars, and the security at the balcony overpass.

"Over there—open fire!" The trooper at the front exclaims, with a hail of rounds being fired upon Mirage.

She deflects the first few rounds, expertly moving her blade with lightning-quick speed. Her defense proves inefficient, however, as the continuous fire causes her to stress and tire. Mirage tries dodging the incoming bullets by dashing away to behind a pillar, but is shot through her left shoulder, twice at her right leg and grazed by the bullets two times at the hips.

"Suppressing fire, now!" One of the soldiers exclaims to the rest of his group, a multitude of shots bouncing off the far side of the pillar and flying past its sides as Mirage hides behind it.

"Agh! Dammit, are you trying to get me killed!?" Mirage exclaims, panting from the pain and adrenaline rush of being shot, her back against the pillar she's using as cover. "I'm pinned down here, by the way, ngh!"

Mirage peeks beyond the edge of the pillar, assessing her threats with the AR visor. She then goes back into hiding after a shot grazes the pillar, holding up a rifle from her hip and unlocking its safeties. Looking down at her shoulder and her legs, she can see some blood staining her gray armor suit from bullet wounds at the shoulder, hips and leg.

"Mirage, are you okay? Are you still able to run?" Her assistant says.

"I just got shot five times—I think you can guess how I am. Looks like they didn't hit anything vital, though, so I'll walk this one off." She replies after a sigh.

"Don't play tough—you really should heal up if you want to make a run for it." The man says again over the radio, with some concern in his voice. "The nano-medpacks are for this kind of thing anyway; use them."

"Fine. Just no more surprises." Mirage reluctantly says in accord.

She retrieves a small stimpack from one of her hip pouches, tiny glass bits in the vial emitting a glow in the same golden hue of Dust. Mirage removes its cap and presses its needle end into her leg wound. She lets out a short grunt of discomfort, biting her lower lip as the nanomachines heal her gunshot wounds, glowing through her exposed skin and fur. After the stimpak empties, she plucks it off from her leg, throwing it to the side.

The agent waits for an opportunity to shoot back, carefully listening to the gunfire and then peeking out of cover just long enough to place some precise shots at the two lightly-armored securities on the balcony above. The short bursts of fire are just enough to wound them beyond standing.

"Cover me, reloading!" One of the troopers says after Mirage hides, with a break in the sound of gunfire for a moment. "Check your ammo!"

"Alright, I'm getting out of here. How much until the elevator?" She asks over the radio, grabbing a flash grenade from one of her leg pouches, readying it for a throw.

"It's getting close, but still slow. Just one more floor and you'll be right over it." The reply is heard.

"Got it, I'm on my way." She quickly throws the grenade around the edge of the pillar.

"Ah! Grenade—!" One of the soldiers exclaims just before the blast, the bright flash and the loud explosion disorienting all three and giving Mirage a chance to run past them.

Mirage runs from behind the pillar, jumping onto a nearby pillar and leaping from it onto the balcony, sprinting past the wounded securities.

"There you are! You're gonna regret coming here today!" Ahead of her, a trooper with a combat machete walks out of a side room, charging towards her direction. The agent unsheathes her blade again, holding it blade with both arms and striking with full force at the bladesman with a horizontal sweep.

The trooper parries Mirage's attack with his machete, the sound of clashing metal echoing and sparks flying around as the two blades meet. He pushes her blade to the side, trying to slash at her diagonally from below instead.

The blade duel continues with the two pushing each other around, slashes and parries being made by both of them. The guard kicks Mirage back after another parry, and then charges at her for a direct stab.

Mirage gets back into balance just in time hit the guard with an upwards sweep of her blade, severing his right hand in the process.

"Agh, you bitch! Dammit, I'll still kick your ass!" The guard swears in rage, clutching at his right arm with the left hand as he tries kicking Mirage at her midriff. She stops his leg with her right arm, and punches him in the face with the left hand.

The agent continues on the run, breaking through another door at the end of the corridor, now at a balcony above the northern lobby of this floor. A series of glass panes make up the window overlooking the neighboring commercial district area. Mirage can see the elevator down below, not too far from the floor now.

To her right, she can hear another security rushing into the balcony from nearby room. He fires some rounds at her, who in turn deflects them with the sword again.

"Dammit!" The security exclaims as he tries reloading his pistol, out of ammo. Mirage pulls her SMG from her left hip holster, shooting at the guard's legs and causing him to fall over in pain.

She proceeds by holstering her sidearm, sheathing her blade and vaulting over the handrail, landing on the floor below and crouching to dampen the landing's force. After standing up, she can hear two more men approaching, looking back to see a couple more troopers with machetes.

Mirage continues running alongside the balcony with the wall at her left, looking down at the cargo elevator out of the window to the right; Dust canisters and industrial power cells on top of it, she's certain that after getting there, things will be much easier.

To the front, Mirage spots two more guards with pistols at a door in the end of the corridor, while still being tailed by the two other attackers. She'd either have to fight her way through them, or…

After her sprint, she runs across the wall at her left, jumping away from the wall with full strength, and breaking through the glass panes as she propels herself away from the balcony. Reaching the cargo elevator with a rough landing, Mirage gets up in just enough time to hide behind a power cell before a shot grazes the elevator floor.

"Cease fire! _**Cease fire**_!" One of the troopers exclaims to the rest of his group, lowering the weapon of a guard to his right with his hands. "Don't shoot, you'll get us all killed!"

Dangerous, but it did work. Hiding behind the power cells was enough to force the guards to stop firing at her—as an explosion right at the support pillar would probably collapse this section of the building. The troopers shout orders to the guards for regrouping at the top of the building, leaving the balcony with its shattered glass behind.

Still behind one of the power cells, Mirage can feel the chilly wind with the strong glare of the sunlight reflecting off her visor and her blade's edge. Not wasting any more time, she plants a demolition charge at the power cell arming it and syncing with her suit's readings.

"Hey! What's the idea there—didn't you say you didn't plan of bombing the place?" Mirage can hear the male voice on her earpiece again.

"My cover's blown, and I don't suppose they'll just let me walk off from the front door after this. The explosives will just keep them at bay until I'm out." She replies, standing up and looking at one of the platforms above. "Set the _Raven_ to pick me up at the top helipad."

"Alright, fine, I'll get it heading your way. Just _try_ not to kill everyone until then. Also, you should be in front of Elanus' office balcony in just a moment." He continues after his reply.

The elevator passes by the balcony, decorated with a small amount of greenery, its entrance blocked by a steel door. Its windows have been blocked by large steel plates.

Mirage bypasses the cargo elevator circuitry after opening one of its panels, stopping just at the right height for her to jump off the elevator. She sprints a short distance before jumping off the edge, making a rather graceful landing at the balcony, quickly examining the surroundings before walking closer to the entrance.

Looking for a weak point to enter the office, her AR visor displays info on the steel door's thickness—or the lack of thereof. She pulls the blade from its back sheath again, raising its frequency a considerable amount, causing it to give off some static jolts from its cutting edge.

Mirage steps close to the door, and slashes twice at it in an X-shaped pattern. She kicks the door's remains open as its separate pieces fall off, allowing her entrance. Stepping in, the pieces of the door that have been flung into the office broke a glass display case at the far side of the room, apparently having been enough to throw Elanus off his balance. From what it looks like, he was standing ready to shoot someone entering the office before falling, wiping off glass shards from his clothing afterwards, with a high-caliber revolver seen a couple meters from where sat.

Mirage takes a few steps towards him, lowering her blade's frequency as she nears the man. He tries reaching his gun, but she splits it in half with a swing of her sword after he tries aiming at her, standing right above him. Although unharmed, Elanus drops the damaged gun, showing a fair degree of shock after the blade almost slices his arm.

"You… you again. What, didn't hear me clearly the first time around? Or did you just come over here to finish the job?" Elanus says, panting between his sentences, hands up in yield, eyeing the high-frequency blade in fear.

"It might be hard to believe but I'm not the person that's a threat to you, Elanus." She says, still lowering the blade's frequency until its glow fades entirely.

"Yeah, well my guards probably are—"

"All still alive, worst injuries will be some slashes or a severed arm." She interrupts him, getting a handheld comm device from the desk at her left, tossing it onto Elanus' direction. "Tell your men that there's a bomb at the power cells back there. It's tied to my suit's lifesign readings, by the way; if anyone tries anything funny while I'm getting out of here, the whole place collapses. And tell them to stand down and give aid to their injured while at it."

"Right. How merciful of you…" Dean mutters under his breath, before radioing his men. "Elanus here, everyone stand down—we've got bigger issues to deal with now. There's some sort of bomb at cargo elevator 4, and we've got some people heavily injured by the infiltrator at the floors she went through."

"Copy that, sir." One of the guards says over the radio. "What about the infiltrator? We had a negative on her being neutralized; are you alrigh—"

"I'm fine; locked up in my office with the infiltrator, though it looks like this one's had it all planned to leave in her own terms. Get all units out from the top floors; she's leaving from that helipad unless we want the whole place in ruins." The man says, interrupting the guard.

"But sir—"

"Just do it. Elanus out." He puts the handheld device away, standing up from the floor with his hands up again.

"Just wondering out loud here, but from what I can tell you weren't afraid to use force to get here. Why am I supposed to believe you're not going to kill me?" He says, staring right onto Mirage's visor.

"I got spotted. It's not like I could just ask them to let me pass. In any case, wasn't trying to kill any of them. They were just in the way." She replies rather coldly, after a sigh.

"Well, I'd hate to see what you'd call an all-out assault." Elanus replies. "Now, 'Mirage', what's all of this really about? Let's just get down to business. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you at stabbing distance."

"I'm not here to convince you to help. I tried more than once and seems like they either have you really well paid or you really believe in what they're doing. It's not important. I'm just here to warn you about the people you're working for, Dean." Mirage says, taking a step closer to the fennec.

"W-what? Who are you talking abou—"

"Schermer. Cut the act. We both know what they've been up to."

Mirage interrupts Elanus by giving him a datapad. It lights up into life, displaying texts and pictures of what seemed to be some autopsy report of a woman in her late twenties—a Cornerian fox. The images showed she had several charred marks on her skin and fur, particularly around the nape and spine. The pad also had several other files on searching for specific genetic markers in Lylatian species' DNA, specific medical records, and several reports on other 'subjects' whose count was in the hundreds.

"That's… One of the volunteers we sent early on…" Dean says, his ears lowering in shock.

"You probably heard of 'failures' if you ever asked your superiors about the early 'subjects'. And there were others, but after some point, the autopsy reports just entirely vanish." Mirage speaks up after Dean reads on the files. "Interestingly enough, other reports—with a lot of references to erased or encrypted files—start to crop up at about the same time the autopsies stop coming in."

"And what's in these reports?" Dean asks.

"Honestly? I'm not sure if either of us would really like to know. I couldn't get my expert to crack their encryption on most of these files, and the erased files couldn't be recovered. The little we could decrypt brings up the word 'Avatar' several times in common across files, and mentions of 'resurrection' more times than we were comfortable with." She replies. "Either way, I don't know if this changes anything for you, and frankly, not that it matters. I'm just here to show you the side of this story they're not telling you. And it isn't pretty."

"Make what you will of all this. If you ever do change your mind, the datapad has the information you need to contact me. But I'll just say this once: if you send someone—anyone, trying to track me down, that'll be the last thing you do. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave." Mirage turns away from Elanus to walk off the door after a few moments of silence.

At the roof's helipad, an interceptor lands, seemingly unmanned. Mirage climbs to the top of the building and enters the fighter, taking off and flying into the distance.

* * *

IIn the air, Mirage receives a transmission from her specialist. She sets her fighter to autopilot, reclining her seat back into straightening it, and placing her hands on two haptic interface panels by her sides before patching the transmission through.

"Looks like you got lucky. They called off the alert in time for the Raven to touch down and leave. No forces in pursuit." He says, in some relief.

"Not as much luck as the fact I've probably got Elanus' attention now. The info on the Schermer operations at Rockwell Landing might be enough to make him more inquisitive with them at least." Mirage replies, relaxing with a slight sigh inside the aircraft as its flight continues, reaching cruise altitude.

"You think he may cooperate later on?" The man on the radio says again, seemingly typing in some commands at his device. "I don't know. He's well-connected. If we can turn him…"

"Maybe, who knows… honestly, I feel he might be too paranoid to do so directly, but that's a start if anything… Mh…" She says, stretching her right leg a bit, with a subtle grunt of discomfort.

"Hey, I heard that… Those wounds are still hurting, aren't they?" He says, typing some more commands on his side of the transmission.

A screen inside Mirage's fighter stops displaying the reports and displays this man instead—a relatively young Cornerian red fox in his mid twenties. He had short, slightly messy straight hair, wearing half-framed reading glasses with some sort of holographic display on the right lens. Behind the glasses, his eyes glowed slightly with a few Dust patterns outlining both of his irises.

"Hold still. Let me see if I can help you with that…" He says, typing some commands into his console before three small robotic arms are deployed from a ceiling panel above Mirage. One had a small incisor blade, while the other had a miniaturized laser cauterizer between a pair of thin, blunt claws, and the third seemed to have an injector of some sort.

The injector cycles between vials in its storage, loading a blue mixture before injecting it onto Mirage's wound at the right of her hip. Mirage shows some discomfort for a moment, but then relaxes again under some sort of anesthetic effect before the injector pulls away.

"This should help with the pain while the onboard medcare system does the rest. Are you feeling any better?" He asks.

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt all that badly anymore. Thanks, Sam…" She replies, her vision blurring slightly while the onboard medical systems operate. It continues, repeating the process at her right leg and shoulder, with lesser anesthetic doses to avoid sedating the agent entirely as it removes small bullet fragments, placing them on a sliding tray by the side, cauterizing the wounds afterwards with the precision laser.

Lastly the injector cycles to a vial with a yellowish substance, injecting the solution onto the cauterized wounds before the fragment tray slides shut and the small robotic arms go back into their panels.

"That looks a lot better…" Mirage says, glancing at her exposed shoulder wound as it apparently begins to slowly heal itself up. The same starts to happen to the other shot graze wounds through her suit.

"The dermal regenerator will probably have anything on the surface healed up in a few hours." Sam says over her earpiece, his voice slightly lower than before. "The rest, I think your grafts are already taking care of… I'm sorry about those bad directions I gave you earlier, by the way. That was a bad call… I should have paid more attention to their movements."

"Mistakes happen… Just be more careful next time." She replies, almost closing her eyes. "Just don't let it happen again. I don't think we'll get this lucky so soon…"

"I understand… Once you're back, we can review our findings and prepare our next move. Until then… you should probably rest on the way back. You haven't had much time to sleep with how you've been busy this week…" Sam continues, noticing Mirage seemingly exhausted. "Don't worry; I'll get you home safe."

"Alright… I'll leave the flying on your remote access if you need it… We'll talk once I'm back at the… base…" Between the sedatives and exhaustion, Mirage barely finishes speaking before she falls asleep.

The interceptor leaves Corneria's atmosphere, further accelerating into space en route to its point of origin.

* * *

Far out in space, in the orbit of a terran planet…

The sound of alert beacons blared through the creaking noise of metal and tremors at the interior of a ship. Circuits shorting out and overloading, charred walls tinted red from the warning lights, and the ship crew rushing for evacuation gave the hallways of the ship an unbearable atmosphere.

" _Warning, ship entering critical trajectory… Alert; Decks 4 and 9 have been lost. All hands, proceed with emergency evacuation protocols."_

"How many modules can we still detach!?" At the bridge of the ship, the captain shouted through the chaos to his crew. "We need to evacuate as many people as we can!"

An explosion at the aft of the ship breaks its engines apart, the ship drifting away and approaching the planet.

"We don't have a choice—if we don't release, the entire crew is going to die!" The captain argues with the crewmen.

Another tremor shakes the ship as one of its now-deserted central decks explodes, with the bridge sealed away from the rest. A few seconds after, dozens of small pods are launched away from the ship in sequence, slowing down and spreading away from the ship as it falls planetside.

"Crew pods at safe distance. Releasing modules!" An engineering officer at the bridge calls out. "Communications… released! Command module… released! Detaching auxiliary systems… now!"

"All modules in flight! Final burn for ship core deceleration!"

The mangled ship core takes its distance by decelerating further from the released modules, a blazing trail of fire being drawn from the escape pods and modules along the ship core as they fall into the atmosphere. The hail of objects falling down to the planet draws seemingly countless streaks of light on its path…

… _Attention: This is an automated distress signal from the CCV Nova-5…_

* * *

 _15th of Month Three, 2984 GST – Corneria City, Central District, 'Division Omega Headquarters'_

Down at Corneria City, not long after the incident…

After Division Omega was transferred into the CDF's chain of command, the chiefs of staff made sure to reinforce measures to placate the more confrontational elements within the system.

An open-channel policy was adopted between the Confederacy and the nations of the Joint Initiative, to encourage improved relations. Outsiders still were seen as the mystified, strange and unknowable beings by most, although that notion began to slowly fall apart as Lylat became more accustomed to dealing with their presence.

Isolated cases of unruly citizens still were found across the system, and despite all having officially accepted the collective actions, a few states of the Lylatian worlds accepted the state of peace begrudgingly. More isolationist worlds and colonies such as Macbeth still felt had a general feeling of resent against the Outsider community, and murmurs about secession from the Confederacy ran left and right across the system.

By then, the CDF had assigned The Division to low-profile scientific-military missions of reconnaissance in the interstellar neighborhood for strategic resources and assets, as well as assigning deep-space exploration in the so-called Milky Way. Despite the many feats of the people in that galaxy, a good half of its worlds still sat uncharted.

However, several freak incidents had been reported across the Confederacy. Enter The Division's main overarching goal: Investigating and intervening in all Outsider matters across the Confederacy.

* * *

"Commander McCloud!" A distant male voice calls, barely heard through the noise within The Division's Headquarters.

The operations command center for this elusive branch of the CDF became surprisingly busy after being re-staffed. However, only a fair minority of Outsider specialists remained within the staff. Nonetheless, its activity steadily increased as more incidents and reports came in.

"Commander! I need a minute of your attention!"

These words snap James' attention back to reality, away from the readings on the Lylatian holomap he was examining. The officer made his way through the crowd, approaching the Commander, quickly saluting James afterwards, introducing himself.

"Senior Agent Roberts, sir—I'm with the Cornerian Investigation Committee." He says, a stern look on his face. "I'm sorry to barge in this way, but I've got urgent intel on the _Nova_ Case."

"The missing vessels?" James says, stepping down a short set of stairs towards the officer. "Do we have leads on either one of the two vessels that have gone dark?"

"Three, sir."

"Another one…" James grits his teeth, and shakes his head. "I'm guessing those were the _bad_ news then."

"I'm afraid we've also confirmed that at least this ship, the CCV Nova-5, has been destroyed." Roberts adds, some hesitation in his voice. "However, we have a location for this incident. The last known coordinates point towards Clavis-III."

"Clavis-III? Outpost Miriam is in Clavis-IV—what were they doing there?" James replies.

"Unfortunately, we don't really know why they were headed that way in the first place." He says, stepping closer and handing over a datapad. "All the info we have is within these files. Needless to say, the chiefs of staff would like this matter to be solved before people become alarmed. You're the best-qualified unit to take care of this, so we'll be glad to have whatever assistance you can spare."

"We'll do what we can, Roberts. For now, let the Committee know we'll order a team to investigate." James says.

Examining the classified documents in the datapad, James swipes quickly through blueprints and specifications of the ship, reading over reports up until the loss of contact. Walking back to the information center's holomap, James plays the internal footage of the _CCV Nova-5_ from the datapad on the holoscreens in front of him.

The recordings from the ship seemed to show normal operation, but the Commander noticed something unusual. Towards the end of the ship's records, he saw images and short recordings of heavily armed men marching at the main deck of the ship. They were using lightweight combat fatigues and compact carbines suitable for close-quarters-combat. However, James had his attention on the emblem these men had on their armor.

 _James had already seen that emblem before_.

A white shield, gold-colored three-point-star at the center, black and gold trim with a sword at the back.

That was the Schermer emblem that Mirage had on her suit.

 _That's it._ He thought. It all made sense: _The Schermer are the ones behind the missing vessels._

 _But what are they after? …And why did they destroy the Nova-5?_

James swiped at the datapad again. Most of the remaining data was heavily encrypted or linked with missing references, but there was a concerning, cryptic image in the files. It seemed like a medical room or a laboratory, with a deceased Cornerian fox on an examination table. She seemed to have been killed by some sort of burn wound—although it seemed localized around her nape.

James' concerns only rose after seeing this. From what little data was readable, it was made clear this was some sort of Dust experiment. He stared at the shot of the nape and the back of the woman, though he was more concerned about what this could mean for Krystal.

He shook his head, sighing and closing all files on the terminal.

"Upload copies of all files from this datapad to the _Endurance_ : authorization, Commander James McCloud." James says coldly, commanding the computer.

"Put me on broadcast, forward to all Division Omega operatives." He gestures at the holoscreen, putting himself on a video broadcast.

"To all agents of The Division, this is Commander James McCloud speaking. We've received critical intel on the missing _Nova_ vessels. I will personally oversee the investigation of the reported area of disappearance with the crew of the _CCV Endurance_." He speaks up at his station, his voice echoing across The Division's headquarters.

"All _Endurance_ crew, prepare for departure ASAP. James out."

* * *

 _17th of Month Three, 2984 GST – Corneria Orbital Spacedock, CDF Ring_

James paced among the corridors of Corneria Spacedock once again. However, time was of the essence in this mission, to make sure they could reach Clavis-III in time to find answers—or possibly survivors.

Halfway through to reach the _Endurance_ , James' hand terminal rings and vibrates in his jacket. He holds it up to see a message.

To his surprise, it was a contact he hadn't heard from in a long time.

It was the same channel Mirage used in the diplomatic meeting five years prior. Cryptic as ever, her only instructions seemed to be: " _I'm at the cargo area in the next door right to you, meet me there_."

A short detour afterwards, James finds himself behind short stacks of crates and small containers. The main station hallway could still be seen rather clearly, and the area was better lit this time around.

While looking for Mirage, James is startled as he feels someone tap his shoulder.

"Next time, check your corners." That distinct feminine voice was heard from behind again, with slight jest. "That's how they get you."

"Mirage. Convenient you show up right about now – We've got new intel on possible Schermer activity." James turns towards her, before glancing towards the hallway.

"The Nova case." She replies.

"So you know about that one as well. The Bureau gave us the info a few days ago." James replies, slightly surprised.

"It took some convincing, but I managed to get a known collaborator to relay some information." She says, arms crossed with a small gesture. "I'm glad to see the info went through the right people."

"I assume there's a reason you didn't get this information to me directly."

"Yes. It would be way too obvious if your team specifically knew about the Schermer operations. Considering I was the only one supposed to be remotely involved in my intel gathering duty." Mirage says. "More likely that a weaker link on their own setup decides to grow a conscience. Which might have just happened at this point."

"So, how's your plan going so far? It's been a long time—though I imagined something would have gone public by now." James asks, arms crossed as well.

"Hmph. What do you think?" She says, facetiously. "Honestly, I almost got killed to get that collaborator to spread a kernel of intel, but I guess it was worth it."

She turns to face a nearby advertisement viewscreen at the area, showing some scenic footage of Corneria City.

"When I look at what we've built here, I just can't stand to think it can all go to waste because of some old men who think they're anywhere close to being good leaders." She says. Her voice encompassed some sadness as she spoke. "I was always told that we would be working towards a greater goal, that we would be helping our people… A lifetime of thinking you're doing the right thing and then realization hits you—you were a pawn in the game. Being used by the people you trusted the most."

James stays silent while Mirage speaks. He can see Mirage shake slightly as she sighs, clenching her fists while trying to stay calm.

"But… we've been over this. I know that you and your crew are fighting for all the right reasons—no matter the organization you're under." She turns towards James again, less tense.

"I'll be accompanying your team from a distance through this mission. I need to see whatever they're doing at Clavis-III and IV for myself." Mirage says, taking a step towards him.

"We'll probably have a better chance of finding clues to the ship's fate if we work together." James concludes. "I'm guessing you have a ship?"

"I've had my share of being an unauthorized passenger already. You'll know my ship once you see it, I'm sure. But until then, I'll try to not draw too much attention." She replies.

"Can't wait to see you in the air, then. But word of advice on drawing attention—you might want to work on that when it comes to personal meetings. Exosuits and high frequency blades aren't exactly subtle." James comments in jest, gesturing towards Mirage.

"Smartass, huh? I think I'm starting to like you." She smirks over the comment, hands on her hips.

During the short encounter, a callout is heard across the station:

" _Attention, all crew members of the CCV Endurance, undocking will begin shortly. All Endurance crew, report to dock 14."_

"I suppose this is my cue to leave." Mirage says, taking a step back and looking around. "Let's not waste any time. I'll contact you again once we're at the Clavis system. Good luck, James."

"Safe travels, Mirage. We'll get to the bottom of this."

James bids his leave, parting ways with Mirage afterwards. He continues on his way to the Endurance.

Later, the ship undocks from the orbital station. Its main thrusters light up, driving it away from the station at full speed, before its drive core activates and propels the ship into warp speed with a flash and a pulse.

Not long after, a small flicker follows in the Endurance's trail…


End file.
